"She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:27

Monday, January 23, 2012

Treadle Sewing Machine and a winner!

My husband and I had a date day on Saturday.  We went to Glen Rose, TX to use some groupon tickets to Dinosaur World.  It was pretty boring (more on that in another post) but we stopped at a junk/antique store called American Country Mall.  While there my husband was like "Missy, come here!  It is a treadle sewing machine!"
But first, let me tell you who the winner of the apron is!  Congratulations Kim, she shared the giveaway on FB!
All we could see was the cabinet and it was covered with a lot of stuff!  I asked the cashier (owner?) if she could help me look at it.  I didn't have the money for it, even though $75 was a pretty good price.
Here it is at the store.  I could not tell what kind of machine it was because it was so dirty.  The belt broke while she was showing it to me.  It was pretty filthy and I even found a wasp nest (with baby wasps!)on it when I got it home.  The lady could tell how much I wanted it and said I could have it for $25!  Sold!!! 
My husband had to take the two pieces apart to get it in the car.  This is what the underside looks like. (It's upside down) Of course my cats had to investigate everything!  I'm glad they didn't get stung by one of the wasps!

Here is the foot pedal where you would pump it to make it work.  No electricty needed!  Can you see how filthy it is?  (Please ignore the messy house!)
Here is the backside of the machine.  Once I cleaned all the dirt off I saw it was a Franklin!  I'm thinking it is between 80-100 years old!
I wiped it with water and then polished it with olive oil, doesn't it look a lot better?  The emblems are all worn down it has been used so much, can you imagine the stories it can tell about all the clothes, quilts, wedding dresses and baby gowns it has made?  I'd rather have a machine with history than one that has been stuck in a corner and never used.
This is the shuttle casing and shuttle which is the same as our modern day bobbin.  As you can see in the above picture the plate covering where I think the shuttle goes is missing.  (You can see the "hole" better in one of the pictures below) Someone stole it from the store, isn't that terrible?
I even found the manual in one of the drawers!  Unfortunately the top half is disentragting, my husband is going to copy as much of it as he can for me.  I can't find a date or serial number or model number anywhere.  My husband is going to fix the belt and a few minor flaws in the cabinet for me.  Until my husband fixes it, I think I will use the cabinet for my Janome and get it off the table!  LOL

It is really easy to pull the machine in and out of the cabinet!


I'll leave you with some pictures of the machine and tomorrow I have some more pictures from the Antique mall to show you!  In this picture I pulled a screw out and was looking at the bottom (which I realized I forgot to clean)
Here is where the shuttle goes.
This is a measurement guide for thread and needle size.
This is the front, kind of rusted.
Here is the other side, the hand crank.
I am not sure what this piece does, anybody know?  Update:  This is a bobbin winder!
Update!!!  Someone gave me the information I needed!  Here it is:
I'll keep you updated as I learn more about the machine!  (Yes this does mean I know have three machines, but I will put them all to good use!)
Missy
"What a beautiful sewing machine and cabinet. Your machine is a Franklin Vibrating Shuttle with 'Scarab Decal' manufactured by the Domestic Sewing Machine Company for Sears, Roebuck & Co. around 1914 or so. It was based on Singer's very succ...essful and popular model 27. It was a considerably lower priced alternative although nearly identical in quality, design and construction to the Singer machine except for the hand wheel and the decal set. The cabinet is original to the machine. Enjoy your beatiful find!!"

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

that machine appears to be older than 100 yrs............i have my grandmothers and my mothers and i am 70+ yrs old

Missy Shay said...

Wow, you are so blessed! I could not find any dates or anything, but my husband saw a picture that looked similar that was from 1910. If anyone has any info on treadle sewing machines you would like to share email me missysaprons@yahoo.com

Michelle said...

How fun! Have you joined the Yahoogroup for treadle sewing machines?

Patricia @ 9th and Denver said...

I have one and I've never done anything with it; right now I use it as a sofa table- I've been wanting to see if I can get it repaired to sew with it! I think that would be so wonderful.

You're so excited I can tell to get this machine. I hope you get to sew with it!

Pat

Linda B. said...

Thanks for sharing, Missy. It looks very much like mine and makes me want to rush home and look at it to see the name on the machine. Mine needs some work! As I told you before, I used my grandmother's treadle machine when I was probably in 6th or 7th grade and thought it was the coolest thing ever!. Enjoy your machine!

Jenn said...

What an exciting find! I hope you can make it work for you. My mother has one, but doesn't use it. It's retired now.

mimijoon said...

Hi Missy! That part you were asking about in the last picture is where you wind thread onto the bobbin! Hope that's helpful!

mimijoon

Renee said...

What a wonderful find. I hope you can replace the missing parts and get it to working again.

My mom had an old Singer (electric) I used to sew on. It had been my grandmothers. I love the style of those old black Singer machines.

Brenda said...

In the last picture you said you didn't know what that piece was for---I believe that is for winding the bobbin. I have a Singer model 27 treadle that looks just like yours and that is what that piece does on mine. Enjoy it. I love sitting at mine and pumping away at the treadle. But I wouldn't trade my Janome for anything for major sewing!

Missy Shay said...

Brenda, I wouldn't trade my Janome for serious sewing either! But I am going to love sewing on my treadle too!

Sara said...

Love your treadle and such a good price! We love Glen Rose. We have gone up there for the past 20 years to the Creation Evidences Museum and have seen The Promise several times. Both are must see! I will look for the antique shop the next time we go.

Megan Gunyan said...

What a beautiful antique! I'm so glad you found it and restored it to some of its former glory.

Lyric said...

Hello Miss Missy:

Thought I'd mosey back over here while I have a moment to myself. Thanks for the link. It's good you are enjoying your treadle find. I plan on joining the ranks of the Treadle Euphoria group as soon as I learn to operate mine.

Meanwhile, I've subbed to your blog and when I find a way to allow such to mine I hope you will do the same.

Viva la self sufficiency.

Lyric
http://www.HipHillbillyFarm.com

AsSnugAsABug said...

Wow, that's an amazing find. My grandma has one like this too.

LV said...

I thought I had checked out all the antique malls around here. I have not been to this one. That will be by next outing. My sister and I do this every other Saturday. I live in Fort Worth.

c. Joy said...

Nice. You're right about antiques that have been used and loved - they seem 'better' than mint condition (unused/unloved) antiques. Enjoy your treasure.

Kellie said...

What a wonderful find this was! And for 25 bucks...SCORE! I'm sure you will enjoy the heck out of it! Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

Are you interested in selling it

Fixerupper said...

I found this post doing a visual search for a match to the short little treadle irons I bought last week on ebay. Success!

I had a similar experience in machine acquisition with a 100 year old White Family Rotary machine at a garage sale. I didn't even ask about the price (assuming they'd want too much) until I heard someone cooing about the cuuuute legs and plotting to "upcycle" it into a table, drawer shadowboxes and *shudder* a lamp out of the machine head. Well, I slipped around to the owner before they could and asked after the price and she only wanted $25 for that "dusty old thing". I cheerfully gave her my cash and hightailed it out of there. I got some REALLY dirty looks from the decor girls on the way out. :D Ha!
PS - It cleaned up very nicely and is my favorite quilt-piecing machine.

Unknown said...

It looks a lot like mine and they are 85 to 100 yrs old, depending on who made it for Sears. I also was lucky, pd a little more $75 in 1991. The link is to pictures of mine on google+

https://plus.google.com/106286245180098337951/posts/ZTky5HkvLvd

"Oh taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him." Psalm 34:8