One more machine

Let's just say it's a 7 year itch.  Of course I fully expect it to last much longer. However it's been almost 7 years since I fell in love with old sewing machines. 

This is a 1935 Singer #127, I found on Facebook market place. It was located just 30 minutes away.  I drooled when I saw the set up.

The seller said it had been donated to her church at Lake of the Ozarks and she purchased it with hopes of sewing. She never followed  through on the sewing part.

This was in the drawer. The drawer that locks with the same key that keeps the cover on the machine!

I always like to find out the history on any machine I acquire. I found  Oliver E. Beas (1928-2002) from Washington Missouri served in the United States Navy during World War II. He was an electrician mate third class. This could possibly be the same man?.

The knee bar in the top of the picture is a gem. A lot of times you'll find the old machines with that missing.

This machine actually has two. One can be used when the machine is set down into the table. The other is for table top sewing.

If my counting is correct this might be machine #22.

One more . . . .

I did a little research on a lady recently. (Thank you Google!) Her name was Nora Lydia Pries, she was born in 1898. 

 Nora and William Brandt

She  married  William Carl Brandt and had 4 sons according to the 1940 census in Illinois. At that time her boys were: Leroy 18,  Floyd 8, Wayne 6, and Delmar was one year old. They lived on Second street in St. Peters, Illinois.

In my search I found that her husband died in 1952 at the Jefferson Barracks Veterans Hospital. He was born August 11, 1892, this making him only 59 when he died. She was widowed at the age of 54. Nora died on July 13, 1982, at the age of 84.

Further in my  search, I am pretty sure she married some years later to a Mr. Washington. In her son Leroy's obituary in 1968, it listed his mother as Nora Washington. Leroy was injured in World War II and lost the use of both legs. I found quite a military story about Leroy on line. 

I could search further, but then this is not my family. Nor am I related any way to this lady. Why does she intrigue me?

Because I bought her sewing machine this week. 

You see, her name was on one of the boxes in the side storage area. There is even a spool of Singer sewing thread. I've never seen that before.

It's a true Martha Washington cabinet with the badge to prove it!

The cabinet is not perfect, but it's been around for a long time. How long I'm not sure, my guess is the 20's or 30's. 

The White Rotary machine is in great shape. It sews well. It will be better when the blacksmith gets around to degreasing it and freshening it up, along with some oil.  The White company was incorporated in 1876.

It has the most unique plug that I have ever seen. 

I had originally planned on looking at this machine for  my sister.  She wanted the cabinet. If not for her, a friend in Australia (who also lives part time in the states) was interested. But when we got there, I was once against intrigued with the cabinet, the machine, and the history. 

Did I mention that this is now my 18th machine?  Who says I don't have a problem?

Another sewing machine!

As I last mentioned in October, I had no intentions of getting another Singer sewing machine. I was on the wagon!  That is until I got a message from my friend Pattie in North Carolina (a 10 hour drive away), 

. . . asking me if I wanted this machine!  The price was right, F-R-E-E.  Of course I jumped at it. 

Now, just how to get it back to Missouri?  It then dawned on me, we had a blacksmith friend that was going that way in a week to take a class at John C. Campbell Folk school. 

So I jumped into action and called my friend Kathy who lives in Brasstown. I asked her if Pattie could drop the machine at her house, so that Missouri  Bob could pick it up there.

Yes, all the stars lined up.

October 27th, after dropping our daughter and her family off at the St Louis airport, we took a little detour  to DeSoto Missouri. Bob had this waiting for me. 

This is what it looks like after a day with me and my best friend, denatured  alcohol, working together. 

Beautiful!!!

I love the fact that it's a hand crank. It's a 15-K model made in 1904. There were 2500 of them made that year between January and June.

The decals are called Sphinx.  Between the Singer and the Sphinx you can see some flaking. I believe this was done when the lady that used it all the time, had probably a piece of fabric wrapped around there, and that was her pin cushion.  What a "no-no"!

So there is now my 15th machine!

Last but not least one more machine I received F-R-E-E

My brother in law Pat, who is a faithful reader of my blog, gave this to me. He found it when deer hunting last week. It came home and was set on my kitchen island.  About an hour later I went in the kitchen to find ANTS, crawling all over my cabinet!!!

So until I can get it cleaned up, it's in the garage in time out.

I did turn down the following machine. It was in pretty rough shape. It's a Willcox and Gibbs, just like the one I bought at Goodwill for $30. However this one came with it's original stand, which is a killer!! 

She is asking $75 for it. It was her Grandmother's machine.

The cabinet had too much peeling veneer, the metal stand was rusted, the top plate was so rusted you couldn't read the writing on it. It had a drawer full of attachments, even a box of the hard to find needles. The book was there, but in many pieces. Both the keys, one for the drawer and one for the cabinet were there too. 

I will always dream of the stand!

I fell off the wagon again.

Yes it happened again.  I now own another vintage sewing machine.  As mentioned in this post dated September 8, I really didn't think I needed another machine.

However thanks to social media (face book messenger) I got word from my friend Sue, that the local Goodwill had this old machine. 

I really knew nothing about a Willcox & Gibbs machine. I emailed my sewing machine friend/expert Phil. He told me they were a late 1800 machine and if I didn't want it he would take it. 

At 8:55 this morning, the blacksmith and I were sitting in our truck on the parking lot of the Goodwill store waiting for their 9 AM opening. 

Here it is, still in it's original floor model cabinet. According to the dating information we found on line, this one was made about 1912.  These are chain stitch machines. After oiling and very carefully/cautiously plugging it in, it was running. It is very quiet just as the book claims. It will get new electrical cords.

Alex Askaroff has a great article about these machines.

 There were 2 books inside the cabinet.

 Look at this neat foot pedal! It weighs over 6 pounds

The sewing plate is so cool too.

Look at the  Willcox and Gibbs medallion, isn't it beautiful?

A close up of the motor.

14 machines and holding.

Bye for now.  I'm climbing back onto the wagon!

It happened again!

Yep, I did it again. 

I bought another singer machine. 

I had no intention of buying another one, well maybe kind of.

Here's my story and I'm sticking to it. On Craigslist Sunday evening there were two Singer sewing machines advertised. One was a 1913 Red eye in treadle cabinet (very nice) and an older fiddle base singer.  

I really didn't think I wanted or need them. So I sent the listing to my friend Phil. He said he'd like to have the Red Eye for a price, so I replied to the seller and made an offer. 

Monday morning I got a reply, from the seller that he wanted to sell them and would take a bit less than what he had them listed.  I replied, asking if we could come by after grandparent day activities at school. 

Donuts with Lizzie and an art project, 2014!!

 Here she is!  It's an 1874 Singer model 12. It's a beauty! It's MINE!

 (See the shape of the body?, thus the fiddle name)

In the drawer I found the original paper/booklet. I also found papers indicating that the machine was owned by the Wunderlich family from Osage City, Missouri (about 15 miles from my home)

 The nice gentleman also gave us some spare bobbins in the old cough lozenges box.

He had both the original drawer key and the coffin top key and the tool to work on it. 

Claude (the fine gentleman who was the seller) is a quilter too. He had collected old machines but it was now time to reduce his inventory. We came at a good time. I told him the red eye would be working in the Amish community. He then asked if we would be interested in a spare treadle base. 

 This is the cabinet the red eye was in.

He then carried this singer 15-91 (A real great quilting machine) up from the basement.

After loading 3 cabinets and 3 machines we were out of there.

I set the 1874 machine in my living room. Beside it I set the blacksmith's grandmother Martha's sewing rocker.

Martha was born in 1894, so this is probably something like what she might have sewn on.


I sometimes do pass on great things. Below are several pictures from an auction we went to Sunday. It was cast iron heaven. There were so many unique pans there. But not the one I needed, a Wagner #11 skillet, so we left.

We came home to work on this tree. . . instead of a good auction.

Life is good.

Look what I left behind.

This one I would love to have! A friend (who I talked about here) is selling this white featherweight for $400. It's just a little too rich for my blood. But if you are interested left me know, I can find out if it's still available. The machine is located in Jefferson City, Mo. 

At 8:30 AM, I got a text from my favorite daughter-in-law of a black machine for sale at a rummage sale up the road. She actually texted me the above picture. The blacksmith and I quickly headed there. 

It's a Singer 15-90. I'm still thinking on this one.  A singer 15-90 is belt driven, where as the 15-91 is gear driven. Otherwise it's pretty much the same machine. 

My friend Angie, found this one at an antique store west of Columbia Missouri. It is listed at $375.00.

Funny I had never seen a white featherweight in person until this past week. Now I see there are 2 located fairly close.

Thanks  again to social media (Facebook) today I heard about 3 more machines at another rummage sale. (Thanks Andy).

This Modernage was $45.  It's not a Singer, but looks very similar. 

Then there was this sweet Singer 99. It was only $45, that's $10 less than I paid for mine. I wish I would have photoed the serial number. I'm pretty sure it's older than mine. Again, I didn't need this one either.

At the same sale was this Modern Age retro pink machine. It was nice too, just not my style. 

After all that deciding not to buy, my stomach was growling. I stopped by Mi Pueblo Mexican bakery. They now make dinner items. I had bought some of their tamales one Saturday and loved them. So I was ready for a few more and some taco al pastor. 

The lady seemed a little confused when I asked for beef and chicken tamales. It was then in broken English she tried to explain, only on weekends. So I settled for tacos. I will be back some Saturday.  Maybe when I'm back out looking for sewing machines!