Sewing

On the last day of 2009, I brought this Centennial (1951) edition Singer treadle sewing machine home.



A local lady had it on Craigslist for a price I couldn't pass up. My Kenmore sewing machine was a gift from Mike for our first Christmas as husband and wife. It has been giving me trouble lately, and I went on Craigslist to see what I could find. I had no intention of buying a vintage treadle machine, but the price was right, it was local, and It works great. It only sews a straight stitch, so I will still need to get my Kenmore fixed or get another machine for other sewing purposes. But for now I'm treadling away. It did come with a ruffler attachment and a few others that I will have to play around with. I'm still getting used to the treadle and some of the quirks of this older beauty, but here's the play mat top that I've put together for McKenna.


There are a few loops of ribbon inserted into some of the seams. She can finger those (as babies love to play with ribbon tags on their toys, etc) or they will be used to hook toys onto the mat with those plastic rings. I just got the backing material on Thursday so need to sandwich everything together with the batting, etc and decide if I'm just going to tack it at the corners of the pieces or do more quilting on it. For now it's been draped over the back of the couch where I feed and play with McKenna a lot and she loves looking at it.

I bought the "workhorse" Singer for a purpose which will be shared here soon, after the recipients of my labors have gotten their items. I don't want to ruin the surprise here.

The lady I bought it from also had a few other treadle machines for sale. They were much older, and had beautiful oak cabinets with lots of flair. But the machines themselves used weird barbell-shaped bobbins that fit into a bullet-shaped case, the needles needed to be longer than what you can normally find these days, etc. While I would have loved one of the more beautiful looking cabinets, I wanted something I would feel more comfortable with, since I was going to be using it and not just looking at it.

I haven't decided where it will end up in the house, but for now it's in the family room where I can sit down and sew a bit when I have a few minutes while McKenna sleeps or plays.