Over the winter holidays, my mom and I pulled out her old Singer sewing machine to play with. I was almost as excited about this prospect as I was for the holidays themselves! The sewing machine was my mother's grandmother's so we estimate that it's at least 75 years old. It's electric, but instead of a pedal it has a lever that hangs down from the table that you nudge to the right with your thigh. A weird adjustment but you get used to it quickly enough.
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| The lever is very easy to set off by accident! |
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| It was a lot smaller than I was expecting. And heavy. |
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| This machine is in such lovely condition. |
With no real project in mind, we tried out as many of the attachments as we could. The gathering foot was by far the most impressive. It lifts your fabric and aggressively tucks it into ruffles while you sew. Very neat, if a little intimidating. We couldn't get the binding foot to behave, and had some difficulty finding the right tension. It doesn't help that none of the knobs are labeled!
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| The gathering foot is the scary-looking one on the right! |
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| These are the cutest bobbins I've ever seen. |
Overall the Singer is in excellent condition and it was a super fun experience to work with a machine so different from what I'm used to! There's a chance that it might get its own table in my mom's craft room instead of hiding in the closet. If that's the case, I'll definitely be getting some more practice in…and maybe posting some projects! :)
That's pretty cool. I like how the machine is moving down the maternal line in your family. Will it be yours someday?
ReplyDeleteIndeed it will! It will be fun to go on a hunt for an antique sewing table to match…
DeleteI see you are in the Toronto, ON, area. A good place to check for an antique sewing table is Around the Block: aroundtheblock.com.
ReplyDeleteHave fun!