# Okay! with all the talk about old machines....



## ginnie5 (Jul 15, 2003)

what are you actually using them for? Right now I'm quilting RRCB on my Grannies old Japanese made 15 clone. It was pieced on the 503 and the Necchi. I pieced and quilted dd's Sunbonnet Sue quilt on my 503 (that for some reason does not like quilting RRCB!). Two other quilts that I made and gave away I did completely on my Singer 127 treadle. I have a star quilt all planned out that I'm going to do completely on the treadle too as soon as RRCB is finished. And then there's the CW blocks...they've been made on the 503. I really enjoy using the old machines. I think its because I like tinkering with them so much. 
Here's dd's quilt...quilted on the 503.....it duid beautiful fmq on this one!









and this is one I did completely on the treadle and gave away


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

What is RRCB?

and I only have reasonably modern machines. Looks as if I need to check out, classics for myself one. (I still want a redone, repainted one.) But I'd like one such as I started sewing on, but I don't know what it was. Just that it had a bullet bobbin.


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

> what are you actually using them for?


_Anything_ I've sewn in the last 10 years or so I've done on a vintage/antique machine. It's all I own. :shrug:


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## ginnie5 (Jul 15, 2003)

you definitely need an old machine Angie! come on join the club! RRCB is the Bonnie hunter quilt I've been working on for the last year (hangs her head in shame). I've fought that quilt the whole way. I finally got the top together then it sat for a couple more weeks. When I pulled out the backing I had for it it wasn't big enough...got another piece and it was too small too. Finally pieced a backing together and started to quilt it. My Singer 503 (which fmq the Sue quilt I posted above)will NOT quilt RRCB. I have tried everything and it just won't do it. So I got out the 15 clone and it is doing it....grudgingly but doing it. I will be SO glad when that quilt is done and I can give it away!!!
Singer 127's have the bullet bobbin...I don't know what others do but you could do some checking and find out.


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

I found a photo of the 127 on wiki. It looks like what a vaugely remember having. Now I think I need to look for one I can afford and is workable.
(as if I need another machine! Ha!)


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## ginnie5 (Jul 15, 2003)

AngieM2 said:


> I found a photo of the 127 on wiki. It looks like what a vaugely remember having. Now I think I need to look for one I can afford and is workable.
> (as if I need another machine! Ha!)


there were different decals on them I think. I have one with the Sphinx decal...well what's left of it. Its one that I think would be a good candidate to paint. Just have to make the time to do it. One day. I have asked on the TO list what other machines use that style bobbin and who knows there may be someone near you who has one to sell. We'll gladly introduce you to our addiction! (hear that evil laugh?)


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## ginnie5 (Jul 15, 2003)

okay here are some machine to look at. If you can remember what it looked like more then we can figure out what it was. There were lots of machines that used that style bobbin apparently. I only have the Singer though. Was it portable or in a stand?
http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm100/DutchmanDick/1887 White VSIIa/

One thing to check on is what type needle it uses....some of them use a different size needle than machines now and it can be hard to get them. Mine uses a 15x1 needle.


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## Waiting Falcon (Nov 25, 2010)

Both of these old Treadles here (Singer and White) have the round bobbins. 

Mother's New Ideal had the long bullet ones.


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## Katskitten (Aug 5, 2010)

The newest machine I own is the Bernina 920? *930* that I inherited. All the others in this house are older than dirt and are fun to play with. 
Currently I am putting more of the jeans quilts together, only on a much smaller scale. Pet and lap size. Making one for my Mother with the backing in kitty type prints for a lap quilt for Christmas.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

AngieM2 said:


> What is RRCB?
> 
> and I only have reasonably modern machines. Looks as if I need to check out, classics for myself one. (I still want a redone, repainted one.) But I'd like one such as I started sewing on, but I don't know what it was. Just that it had a bullet bobbin.


http://www.synthcom.com/~val/Quilts/RollRollCottonBoll.html

I HAD to google and find out! LOL


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## Katskitten (Aug 5, 2010)

I went nuts this last fall and bought a bunch of machines from auctions.
Mostly because of my mechanical interest but also because I wanted to learn to sew and find out what makes these things tic.

My oldest at this time is a 1910 vintage Singer Mdl 66 in a treadle cabinet. It was a gift from my late cousin Gayle-Lynne to me back in 98. It sat in the garage until a month or so ago when we drug it in and I started working on it. I'm making a quilt machine cover for it. Having fits too. 
Learning to sew making a circle quilt, with a cranky 101 year old machine, is something I should have avoided. However I'm almost done with the cover, I've pretty much got the machine sorted out, so all is well.

Here's some pics:
I was just getting started here. I'd sewed a bunch of the circles together for other quilts but this is for the machine cover.








My supervisor decided I should take a break.








Here is the top completed. I've got to finish stitching down the flaps underneath.









Joe


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## westbrook (May 10, 2002)

I sew on them.


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## jd4020 (Feb 24, 2005)

My cousin (on my Mom's side of the family) gave me a treadle machine that he told me belonged to my Dad's Mom. He got it when Dad's sister was cleaning out the garage after Grampa died. We were at his house for his daughters' birthday party and he told me I should probably take it because I am the seamstress in the family. So I did.
I didn't realize just what I have until today. Dh & I just put it down the basement when we brought it home and I haven't had time to deal with it. The wheel turns and I see the bobbin case moving. It's a treadle Singer just like the one in your pictures Joe.  It has some rust on it and the gold isn't shiny. Wow!... I'm not at all sure if I can restore it, much as I would like to. The cabinet is in really bad shape, the veneer is peeling off. Don't know what I should do first and I can't start on this til probably sometime next month. Wow just wow.
God bless.
jd


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## Katskitten (Aug 5, 2010)

jd4020 said:


> My cousin (on my Mom's side of the family) gave me a treadle machine that he told me belonged to my Dad's Mom. He got it when Dad's sister was cleaning out the garage after Grampa died. We were at his house for his daughters' birthday party and he told me I should probably take it because I am the seamstress in the family. So I did.
> I didn't realize just what I have until today. Dh & I just put it down the basement when we brought it home and I haven't had time to deal with it. The wheel turns and I see the bobbin case moving. It's a treadle Singer just like the one in your pictures Joe.  It has some rust on it and the gold isn't shiny. Wow!... I'm not at all sure if I can restore it, much as I would like to. The cabinet is in really bad shape, the veneer is peeling off. Don't know what I should do first and I can't start on this til probably sometime next month. Wow just wow.
> God bless.
> jd


jd,
First thing I'd do is take the machine head out of the cabinet and put it in a tub of some kind. Then remove all the plates, left end and back, so you can get to the innards. Then start with the oil or kerosene. I've found the hard way, do not use soaps or cleaners on the old machines unless you want to destroy the decals.
Several here have said use sewing machine oil only on cotton balls or soft cloth. 
My machine was already badly damaged by age and some other chemical, and without knowing what we were doing we made it worse. I still haven't finished the cleaning but I've cleaned the bobbin winder, tensioner, end plate and got it lubed up and running good. The rest of the cleaning can wait for a while. 

If you haven't been to a site called Treadle On ( http://www.treadleon.net/ ) go there. He has many articles about repairing and redoing the cabinets. Including what to do with pealing veneer.

Joe


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## ginnie5 (Jul 15, 2003)

Joe, that is a pretty Red Eye! dd has one but I haven't sewn on it yet. My 127 is NOT a pretty machine. The decals are all silvered and worn. One day i want to repaint it. TreadleOn is a great place to learn about restoring the old machines. There's also an email loop too and you can get all kinds of answers for any questions you might have.


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## Katskitten (Aug 5, 2010)

Ginne,

Thanks for the comments, but sadly the flash from the camera make the colors stand out and look a lot better than they are. In real life they are all badly worn and etched. She sews great though.

Now the decals on my #2 Singer Mdl 66 Treadle ( yep I got two of 'em ) are almost complete. I'd say about 90%. I haven't tried to clean this one yet. It was converted to electric some time back and I'm looking for parts to put it back to treadle. No luck so far.

The only tips I have about using a treadle machine, or at least this one, is when you get going sometimes they want to stall and then spin backwards. You gotta catch 'em before they do this or they'll snap the top thread and wad up the bobbin thread. Making sure the treadle mechanism is tight but not binding and well lubed helps a lot.

Joe


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

> is when you get going sometimes they want to stall and then spin backwards.


I think that's a Singer thing, personally. 
I have to admit, I don't like Singer treadles all that well. They move so clunky...
I really like my Free treadle, just haven't decided which head is going to live above it.


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## CJ (May 10, 2002)

I'm still in the process of adding accessories to my "new" machines... like decorative cams and presser feet, and haven't actually sewn anything on them yet. I also have to find a place for them, since my studio isn't even started yet. The 401 is pretty much ready to sew, the 222k will be when she gets here... the 301's will have to wait for Jim to restore them, but one day one of those will be my piecing machine.


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## jd4020 (Feb 24, 2005)

Thank you Joe. When I start, I'll follow your instruction.
I sew just about anything on my treadle that I would on my electric machines, except when I need use the free arm. Never have had a problem with anything I've ever tried. 
jd


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## Katskitten (Aug 5, 2010)

ErinP said:


> I think that's a Singer thing, personally.
> I have to admit, I don't like Singer treadles all that well. They move so clunky...
> I really like my Free treadle, just haven't decided which head is going to live above it.


Erin,

I've heard this before somewhere and almost believed it ( maybe I should ) until I began working on my #1 66 Treadle base. The little ball socket on the treadle plate had worn enough to be loose and as I would use it, it went clunk clank clunk clank and when I could get a good long stretch of sewing going would get itself kind of locked in position and we could go like crazy.

So I tore the pitman rod off the machine and looked it over. It was a bit worn, but not badly. I reassembled it with the shaft rotated a bit, and the socket nut on the bottom also rotated to a different position. Then greased it with a hi load grease and tightened the lock nut.
After about 10 minutes of use the grease was pushed out and it clunked again. So I carefully tightened it up again.
Now we can sew quietly without clunking and clanking and it doesn't seem to be as prone to the stalling and backing up as before.

This is the only treadle I've used so admittedly it's little to go by. 
I have one more Singer 66 Treadle I'm looking for parts on and when it's back together I'll see how it does. 

And I have an ancient Franklin treadle under repair as well. I can't wait to sew on that one.


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## Katskitten (Aug 5, 2010)

jd4020 said:


> Thank you Joe. When I start, I'll follow your instruction.
> I sew just about anything on my treadle that I would on my electric machines, except when I need use the free arm. Never have had a problem with anything I've ever tried.
> jd


jd, 
The only thing I really miss with the treadles I have is no reverse. I'm really thinking of looking for a later Mdl 66 with the reverse and setting it up as a treadle machine. 

Joe


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

Katskitten said:


> Erin,
> 
> I've heard this before somewhere and almost believed it ( maybe I should ) until I began working on my #1 66 Treadle base. The little ball socket on the treadle plate had worn enough to be loose and as I would use it, it went clunk clank clunk clank and when I could get a good long stretch of sewing going would get itself kind of locked in position and we could go like crazy.
> 
> ...


Nope. It's the actual mechanism of the treadle base. My good treadle is in a base that is nearly new. Well, as new as a century old gets, that is. lol
No clunking. I mean it's "clunkY." That is, it's clumsy.
If you haven't ever sewn on a Free base with the ball bearing mechanism, you don't know what you're missing! 


Personally, I think the only reason so many Singer treadles survived is because the _good_ treadles got worn out! lol


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I have a Singer treadle, made in 1901. What a dream! I've been using it to quilt on. I'm using my Singer 301 to sew.


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## Katskitten (Aug 5, 2010)

Maura,

I envy you being able to use your treadle to quilt on. 

My project was a simple jeans quilt cover for the treadle. I fought and fought and fought with it until I finally had to admit defeat. I had to hand it over to my wife to finish on an electric machine. 
Mine is a 1910 vintage Mdl 66 and it sews good if I can sew straight or gently curved lines for a distance. But starting and stopping and fighting with a heavy wad of material, and having to fight with the treadle wanting to stall and then spin the machine backwards was just too much.

I've designed a simpler thing to make with the treadle. 

Joe


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I love being envied. Thank you. I bought the treadle recently and it had been taken care of. I just had to oil it. I think being a spinner has helped me shorten the learning curve with the sewing machine.


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## countrysunshine (Jul 3, 2008)

I sewed part of the anything homemade on my treadle. Just got it going last month due to a broken tension spring.

My tentative plan is to do parts of the Farmer's Wife quilt in 12" blocks on the treadle. The 301 was bouught for traveling.


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## CJ (May 10, 2002)

More envy, I want a treadle but have no room!


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## Katskitten (Aug 5, 2010)

CJ,

No room, LOL, I have 4 treadles and a cabinet model. Talk about no room. 
Anyway, a looooonnnngggggg time ago in a place far far away Singer and Sears sold treadles in cabinets. The cabinets are smaller than a regular treadle when closed up, yet have full sized machines in them.
I think the Singer cabinet number is 23. The machine I have in the cabinet is a Franklin. A Domestic made copy of the Singer 27-127 introduced by Sears in 1911. It takes up much less than a regular ironed framed treadle. 
Here is a page from Treadle On that shows one of these cabinet machines:
http://www.treadleon.net/woodshop/restoringfinish/restoringfinish.html

Check 'em out.

Joe


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## CJ (May 10, 2002)

A friend saw a treadle yesterday in a thrift shop, I may zip out today and peek at it. I'm going to go in my CAR and not the TRUCK so there's no impulse buying! LOL


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## Katskitten (Aug 5, 2010)

CJ said:


> A friend saw a treadle yesterday in a thrift shop, I may zip out today and peek at it. I'm going to go in my CAR and not the TRUCK so there's no impulse buying! LOL


CJ,

What kind of treadle was it?
Was it purty?
Was it a Singer, Franklin, White, Kenmore, Other?
5 drawer, 7 drawer, cabinet type?
And ........ did you buy it?

Inquisitive minds ... mine ..... want to know.


Joe


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## CJ (May 10, 2002)

Joe, it was a class 66 Singer Red Eye... the cabinet looked like it was held together with a wing and a prayer, and they still wanted $175 for it, marked down from $275! Nope, didn't get it.


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## Katskitten (Aug 5, 2010)

CJ,

I have two 66 Red Eye treadles in much better shape than that and I didn't pay that much for both together and all the parts I've got for them.

I would have left it too.

Joe


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