#treadle machine

[badassindistress]

Tragedy!

Halfway through 9 meters of ruffles my ruffle attachment broke 😭

The little bit that pushed the pleat somehow got under the needle and it broke. I don't know how that is possible. Now it drops pleats🥲

[radishwizard]

theoretically this version can be printed out and folded into a zine (i haven't tested it though)

[squidthrift]

German Penny Toy Lithographed Treadle Sewing Machine Miniature

Source: Rochester, NY Rochester Auction House

[ghostlycorvid]

Got the sewing machine up and running first thing in the morning! The only snag I ran into was the needle clamp being gummed up with old sewing machine oil and not being placed back on there correctly by a previous owner. Took it off, gave it a good cleaning, and it slid right back on perfectly and I had no problem installing the needle after! 

Tested it by just turning the hand wheel, it took a few tries adjusting the bobbin tension but I got the stitches looking neat and tidy! I’m definitely not used to older machines where you have to manually adjust the tension for the top and bottom threads separately, thankfully it’s pretty easy!

The other 7 hours of my workday were spent out on the office deck, giving the wood a nice wash with oil soap and then oiling the cast iron base. The little bit of cleaning really made the wood pop ;w; 

I patched some of the holes in the drawers with wood filler, and also found some finishing nails to stabilize a couple of corners that had come apart over the years. I ordered some fun drawer handles last night, so hopefully I’ll be able to make something that looks nice when they come in! 

The last thing I need to do to make it properly functional is treat the leather strap to help it get more grip. It turns fine with the slower speed of the handwheel, but as soon as I get the treadle wheel moving, it’s too fast and the leather strap just sits there. We might have some rosin at home from my mom’s days of playing violin... 🤔

My next step will be consulting with our shipwright to see what he thinks can be done about some of the trickier wood damage that I don’t know how to repair. Every guide I find on patching up wood damage is like “fill it with wood filler then slap some BORING ASS PAINT over your nice 115 year old antique wood stain” which is not going to happen lmao but also means that my internet research isn’t giving me any good leads. I know I could try to match the staining, but that will be tricky without talking to someone who actually knows this stuff.

[ereighna]

After talking to the Lovely @linked-maze, I felt like I could finish a corset I started over a year ago. I've now cut out the heavy lining and expensive transitional silk and hand bast all the boning channels (my hand hurts now).

I'm going to sew this together on my great grandmothers treadle sewing machine.

She really needed to sit on that fabric...

[yoshiyakiryu-archive]

We moved the living room around slightly because I realized I still wasn't using it much and it's so much more conveniently laid out now. I've been sitting on the couch a lot more. And we've got two of the the sewing machines out where they can be easily played with, which is always funny to explain to people! "Play with these vintage sewing machines. Please play with them. It keeps the parts in working order and there's no needles in them so you won't hurt anything. Turn the crank." At some point I'll have the treadle table out where I can play with that now and then too but for now it has an important function in the corner.

[autumnthedeer5]

So I have a treadle sewing machine and I’m trying to figure out when it was made can someone help

That’s the serial number

[miscmagpie]

I might have impulse bought a vintage sewing machine.

I am excited.

[madfishmonger]

Made myself a bag for my medical information binder out of vintage supplies from my stash. A wine red wool lined with a paisley cotton that used to be my great-grandmother's duvet cover. Sewn on my 1911 treadle sewing machine.

[badassindistress]

Ruffled flounces are all fun and games until you have to hem 9 metres by hand...

[lunamoon-art]

Three years ago my mom rescued an old Singer sewing machine that is now 115 years old, I finally had the motivation to work on it and try and restore it. The video is from yesterday, the picture where it's all rusted and on the wood is from 3 years ago. The one where it's on newspaper and less rusted is from a few days ago before it was fully moving.

[radishwizard]

made a shirt inspired by jinbei. some details:

I like it ! the sleeves are big and it's very comfortable

[ghostlycorvid]

A couple more before (but after I’d started doing some cleaning with isopropyl alcohol) and after photos!

Some of that corrosion and plating chipping is not going anywhere but it all moved really well even before I cleaned things up and refreshed the oil so I’m happy to have stuff just a little cleaned up and shinier. The wear gives it character!

Since I wasn’t sure how much was rust vs corrosion, I gave the bars on the bottom a light sanding with 1500 grit sandpaper which already made a visual difference. Then went in with the alcohol to clean up the sewing machine oil buildups, and then polished the length with automotive polish while taking care to avoid getting it too close to any of the moving parts.

Out of all those screws in the bobbin area, literally the only one that would budge was the release lever for the bobbin case 8′) I don’t know how to free the seized screws all over this machine but I had to stop trying to get them so I didn’t strip them out. One of them was already pretty gouged before I got to it, so I assume the owners before my coworker were already struggling with them 10+ years ago.

I think I’ve got the machine all cleaned up to my liking! Most of the cleaning was purely aesthetic anyway. My plan for tomorrow is to bring in a new machine needle, some thread, and some scrap fabric to give her a hand turned test run to make sure everything’s working and timed correctly. Fingers crossed! 

I started cleaning the dust off the cabinet and base today before realizing it was INCREDIBLY SILLY to do that indoors. So my other plan for tomorrow is to take it outside the office, give it a good dusting and then clean it with oil soap.

If I’ve got time after that, I’d like to apply wood filler to the drawer bottoms and the inside corners where things are gapping or outright broken. Thankfully the outside doesn’t look TOO bad, the veneer peeled a bit on one edge, but it’s laying pretty flat. All but one of the drawer handles broke off over time (thin wood filigree, unsurprising) and half of the replacement cup handles have also broken off, so I’m looking into ordering some pretty handles that are more my style. :3c

The one piece of wood damage that I really need to look into covering up and stabilizing is the front panel on the cabinet. The bottom third broke off over time and there’s another crack in the remainder, so it has a jagged edge and is missing the thin wood filigree that used to be there. I’d like to do something decorative that also helps protect the user from those sharp edges.

[littlehouseontheaerie]

My new baby. Vintage 1923 Singer 66 treadle machine and cabinet. Not my first vintage machine, which is great because this one needs a lot of restoration. But it runs!

I’m so excited to make her last another century.

[waterloggedtomorrow]

Every now + then I think abt getting a sewing machine that is <70 years old + does more than a straight stitch, but then I start poking around on craigslist + inevitably find myself looking at machines that are 50 yrs older than the one I have + I have to abandon the project all together.

[adirondackraven]