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Sewing Machines Old and Newer
Yes, I did this on a treadle...
It's a common question, I get it all the time "I need a new machine, what should I buy?"
Well, the first thing I need to ask is, "Why?" - if your machine still works and is not giving you problems, a new machine, while a jolly thing to buy, may well not be needed. Very little in patchwork requires more than an adjustable stitch length and perhaps and occasional zig and zag. Most people with "bells-and-whistles-and-makes-the-coffee" machines never ever use the said bells and whistles, and, as reading manuals seems to be difficult, if not impossible, they don't find out what they can do...
I teach a class called "Learn To Love Your Sewing Machine". For the first part I meanly take away everyone's needle and provide a nice new one, and supervise the putting-in of same. I have had one person admit that her 40-year-old machine had NEVER had a new needle. Then I provide a doubled piece of calico and a pen, and say "stitch out all your stitches, and label with the number"
At this point one lady said "But, it's got 2,500 stitches!" "How many have you used?" I asked. "Only the straight stitch and once or twice, the zigzag" she replied. I asked her to test- stitch the first 25...
A machine you are used to, and that is doing a good job, should not be replaced. A newer machine, unless very expensive, may have a design-life of as little as 35 hours of use - that would be about a week in my house. Some are hard or impossible to get parts for and they all say "Do not oil" - this is like buying a puppy and being told "Do not feed it" - all machinery will eventually need a bit of oil... Sewing machine oil, please, not WD40 (not a lubricant) or 3-in-1 (it dries to a varnish) or margarine (not a food substance)
Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate that modern machines are lighter to carry (mostly) and are, to be honest, extremely cheap (mostly), but they aren't designed well lately...
Let's have a bit of History
I didn't choose Old Sewing Machines - in the beginning it was what I had always had, and as I have made my living for almost 50 years on the simplest and most mechanical of machines, this is what I have come to appreciate. More and more modern machines are flimsy, hard to repair, and difficult to find parts for.. It's sad that my 1928 Singer 15-30 treadle has more parts still available for it than almost any machine from the 1990s or 2000s, but I really don't mind. I don't despair of newer machines, of course, but I don't expect to see this year's models on my bench in 120 years time...
It's hard now to appreciate just how much the sewing machine changed lives. The sheer drudgery of hand-sewing all the clothes, linen and decorative hangings that your house needed took up so much of women's time..
If you got married in the 1830s, unless your family was really rich, you probably had two or three dresses, at least one of which was a hand-me-down. Fabrics were expensive, mostly hand-made. Threads were uneven and needles crudely made. When the sewing-machine came along, it changed so much more than just the amount of time spent squinting at thread and needle.
Machines need to be made accurately, and parts need to be interchangeable.. Threads and needles need to be much better-made. Fabrics have to be produced in much bigger quantities. When garments can be made so much faster, you get Fashion...
So, machinery improves. In order to make sewing machines in any way affordable by most households, you need fast and consistent manufacture, so the assembly-line system arrives..
Most families cannot afford to pay out cash for what was a very extravagant essential, so Singer's accountant works on installment payments, hire-purchase. This changes society - now there is a perfect possibility of living beyond one's means...
Machines need service, parts, accessories, so chains of shops are set up.. Patents are thorny - many early machine makers just copied each other merrily.. Eventually this gets litigious, and Singer bought out many of the early inventors.. On the other hand, many patents are for the most improbable machines - shaped like lions, or with clockwork (because treadling was regarded as rather "exciting" for weak-fleshed ladies...), made to look like desks or hidden in cabinets...
When I was child (and a young adult), I had a hand-crank.. A Singer 28, with the bullet- shaped shuttle and the long bobbins.. No reverse, only one presser foot, heavy as an elephant.. Such a good machine.. It would sew just about anything to just about anything else; never needed a place to plug in; was sort-of-portable.
In my early life I moved a lot, and the machine always came with me.. I made patchwork, clothes, curtains, bedding, blinds, bags, tea-towels, costumes, baby stuff... When my two children were tiny and I had no other income, I made a living dressmaking and curtain-making on this little machine. But, it had one big disadvantage - you only get to use one hand to sew with. So, I put an advertisement in my local Post Office, asking for a treadle..
And someone rang me up, and sold me his mother's 15 class Singer. For £3. Delivered (although he would not bring it up the stairs to my flat) I have had her ever since.. She’s rather lacking in paint now, but she can still sew up a storm, and my natural place in life is in front of her with my feet on the treadle-plate. And she has fed and clothed me; made a living for me, for 40 years. I've been a kitemaker, now I teach and I'm a quilter and a pattern-maker.. I know that if I can make it on my old girl, you can do it on your bells-and-whistles-and-makes-the-coffee...
Nowadays, I have a bad back, and cannot treadle all day, so I do have an industrial Juki. Funnily enough, it only has straight stitches, but it does have that most useful of refinements, it has Reverse!
And, by accident, I became a Fixer of Machines, because I have needed to keep mine going, and because I like mechanical things.. And I built a website for parts, and then I found that there was this enormous international community of sewing-machine users and collectors.. In 2016, I got to visit the USA as an honoured guest of a meeting of Old Machine Nuts.. Fun, and America was very welcoming.. And beautiful, in the Fall. I came back full of inspirations.
So, use your machine, Read The Friendly Manual, learn to adjust the tension and what may happen if you don't, keep her clean and use her a lot, and your sewing will improve all the time...
And, only replace her if she wears out entirely, please..
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