Despite the recent lack of posting here, I’ve actually been working on quite a few sewing projects. The biggest news is that I purchased a treadle sewing machine! Why?? There are many reasons.
1. I have wonderful memories of a grandmother and a great-grandmother who owned a treadle. As a young girl I remember spending many hours playing with the foot pedal, hoping Grandma didn’t notice or didn’t mind. The machine head was always lowered into the cabinet so I had no idea what the machine was doing as I pumped the pedal, but it was fun making that heavy piece of metal rock back and forth. I don’t recall seeing either grandmother actually sew on their machine(s) – for all I know the machine at my Grandma’s was the same one that had been at my great-Grandma’s house. (My other Grandma had an electric machine that fascinated me as well – it had a knee lever that activated the machine rather than a foot pedal. I *do* remember watching her sew on that machine. My dad tells me she had a treadle machine similar to the one I purchased prior to that – a machine that did not lower into the cabinet, but had a parlor cover. I don’t remember seeing that one).
2. The weekend after Thanksgiving 2013 Dallas was struck by an ice storm. I lost power on Thursday night and it wasn’t restored until Sunday afternoon. I was in the middle of a mystery quilt project, trying to keep current with the clues, and had to come to a complete stop because of no electricity. The entire weekend I kept thinking “if only I had a treadle”.
3. I’ve always been drawn to things old, antique, vintage, old-fashioned, and from an earlier era. These things calm my soul. I am a country girl at heart; trapped in the big city. Any opportunity to re-visit a simpler time and way of life puts me at ease. I literally can feel all stress leave my body, for example, the instant I drive a few miles outside the city and surround myself with “country”.
The machine is beautiful to me. A woman less than 3 miles from me was the Craigslist seller/owner. It had been in her family for quite some time, although as an antique decorative piece rather than as a functional sewing machine. As all good horse-traders are wont to do, I asked if she would take a lesser amount than she was asking, fully prepared to pay her asking price if she said she was firm with her offer. She asked me something curious before she replied. She asked if I was actually going to use it as a sewing machine or if I wanted it for decorative purposes. When she heard I really wanted to sew with it she accepted my offer! I was thrilled.
The machine had a full complement of accessories included; attachments I’ve never heard of or used. There were also 6 bobbins; something that is often missing from old machines and can be difficult to find.
This machine obviously has a history. I cannot find a way to match the serial number to an actual manufacture date, but on the plate covering the bobbin area the most recent Patent date is May 1894! This machine is 120 years old! I found out a great deal about the machine simply by rummaging through the contents of the drawers. There was a slip of paper into which various needles had been stuck. One was dated 1913. It was a “payment on account” at the M. W. Wheeler Grocers on 2nd Avenue in Muscatine, Iowa. The name on the account was O. Grossheim. It disintegrated about as fast as I could unfold it to read the piece of paper. Another piece of paper wrapped around packages of Singer needles (at 5 cents per package!) was securely wrapped in fabric which later was determined to be the wristband from a sleeve. Careful untying of the fabric revealed a “payment on account” of 40 cents to the Blanchard Packing Co., also of Muscatine, Iowa. Likewise, the name on the account was O. Grossheim, dated July 16, 1904!
Then Nancy Drew took possession of my body. I started googling O. Grossheim in Muscatine, Iowa. WOW!!! Oscar Grossheim was a photographer in Muscatine with a studio on 2nd Avenue near M. W. Wheeler Grocer. He was born around 1864. He was married to Bertha Obermann Grossheim and they had a daughter named Marie. So, BERTHA was the one who used the machine! Henceforth the machine will be named Bertha!
Upon Oscar’s death, his collection of photographs was donated to a library in Iowa. To make it even more of a find, the collection had been uploaded digitally and was available online!!! I started pouring through pictures of Muscatine, Iowa with goosebumps. There were pictures of the photographer, Oscar Grossheim. He’d taken pictures of the interior of the M.W. Wheeler Grocers. There were interior and exterior photos of his studio. Best of all, there were pictures of BERTHA and their daughter. As I stared at the photos of Bertha, I wondered if any of the clothes she or Marie were wearing in the photos had been sewn on the machine. In all, there were over 4000 photos from his collection.
Being the genealogy nut that I am, this made my entire YEAR (nevermind that it had just started 2 weeks prior!)!! Settling back to earth after the glorious discoveries, I tackled the project of getting the machine in good working condition. All parts freely moved, but there was “gunk” on much of the inner workings that I wanted to clean as much as possible. I had ordered a new belt to replace the very brittle leather belt that came with the machine. As it hadn’t yet been received, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to get everything else ready.
Nancy Drew hat abandoned and Gena-the-sewing-machine-repairwoman hat donned. I am having trouble removing the screw on the needle/throat plate. I can see lots of old lint around the feed dog. I’ve been saturating the screw with Liquid Wrench every chance I get, so I’m hoping eventually it will become free.
Another area that I want to inspect and clean is the bobbin mechanism. Again, frozen screws. Same procedure; applying Liquid Wrench regularly in the hopes the screwheads will eventually free themselves from the dried gunk surrounding the threads.
This cleaning process is ongoing. I am impatiently waiting for the new belt to arrive so I can at least thread the machine and see what happens.
As for sewing, I’ve put together all the blocks for the mystery quilt that started this treadle journey. I plan to assemble the blocks into a top this weekend.
And there you have it. I am again up-to-date with my blog postings (at least on this sewing blog. The photography blog is another matter).
Enjoy!
Gena
Sew What? 