The Sewing Place

What was your very first sewing machine ?

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Re: What was your very first sewing machine ?
« Reply #15 on: September 03, 2017, 17:23:48 PM »
...Could be it would cost an arm and a leg for my dealer to bring it up to speed, if he would even do it. Parts might be obsolete.

Parts will probably be the rubber timing belt under the base, motor belt and bobbin tyre, the rest would likely be cleaning and oiling; checking wires and plugs. You could do it your self to start with and it will not cost much at all. There are other models like the 237 stylist, it looks like it's all metal, rods and gears, and no timing belt.

Surest1tch

Re: What was your very first sewing machine ?
« Reply #16 on: September 05, 2017, 11:25:34 AM »
Mine was a Singer treadle machine my gran gave me and I loved it.  I can't remember the model but it didn't matter to me then, it sewed and that's all that mattered, until that is I came in from school one day and found my mum had sold it

KayK

Re: What was your very first sewing machine ?
« Reply #17 on: September 05, 2017, 20:01:13 PM »
Mine was a Singer 507 purchased from Lingard fabrics in Braintree around 1975 - I didn't like it very much!  It always seemed awkward and stiff.  I part exchanged it later for a Singer 514 - a few more widgets!  This one came in a table.  I even made my bridesmaids dresses and my own 'going away' outfit on it!  Blimey! how old fashioned is that!  I was really envious of my cousins Singer Starlet!!
I have learnt by my mistakes: Sewing machines now are Bernina 720, Bernina 1008, Bernina 801 from 1981, Brother overlocker, ancient but works well

b15erk

Re: What was your very first sewing machine ?
« Reply #18 on: September 06, 2017, 09:04:16 AM »
The machine I learnt to sew on was the old Singer Treadle my mum had, I don't know which model as I was very young.  At school we had a hand crank which we had to queue up to use - I made a pink seersucker petticoat, with fringing on the bottom.

The first machine I paid money for was a Singer 9612 (which I still have, though not used), although I'd had several other treadles passed over.

Back with the old black ladies now.  I seem to have gone full circle....

Jessie

Jessie, who is very happy to be here!!  :),  but who has far too many sewing machines to be healthy, and a fabric stash which is becoming embarrassing.

Gernella

Re: What was your very first sewing machine ?
« Reply #19 on: September 24, 2017, 09:44:05 AM »
Well looking at that list I reckon mine was the 12K fiddle base, that my dad got me from his mother.  It had a funny spool, long and thin and was a bit temperamental but I suspect that was more me than it.  When I was 21 (1967) they bought me a new Brother with a zig zag stitch, which was magnificent in comparison.  I had that until 1991, when I stopped off to buy some thread and saw a Janome Memory Craft 7000 in action and bought it.  I think it cost around £650 but I had got a good bonus that year. 

That Singer kept me clothed and able to go out dancing, so I am eternally grateful for the money saved as a poor apprentice.  At the same time my older colleagues were buying a new dress every week, around £4.50ish at that time.
Stash extension 2024- 6.1 meters
Left at the end of 2023 - 66 meters now (includes fabric found hidden out of sight)  Lining fabric not included

BrendaP

Re: What was your very first sewing machine ?
« Reply #20 on: September 24, 2017, 11:18:44 AM »
The first machine I used was a black hand crank Jones with a long shuttle.  My Dad decided that the most cost efficient way of acquiring a large tent for family camping holidays was to make one, and he did!  Yards and yards of heavy canvas were stitched together using linen thread on the machine which he bought for the purpose, a tiny bit of the stitching was done by me.  Dad also hand turned the heavy duty poles on his lathe in the shed and the finished product saw us through.  Alas I have no idea what happened to that machine.

The first machine that belonged to me was a hand crank Singer which was blue and had a lot of tension problems (it probably just needed proper cleaning and oiling!)  I replaced it with a new  Frister & Rossman electric machine with cams which drop in on top in 1973.  The old blue Singer was passed around a couple of family members but it too has disappeared.

The Frister & Rossman machine I know is now in my daughter's attic as it came out a few months ago for emergency/temporary use when the power supply to her garden workshop failed and she had to sew indoors.  She's used to the speed of an industrial and got quite frustrated with it!

Her first machine which she bought secondhand for £100 when she was 16 (she's 45 now) is the one she still uses every day!  It's a Singer industrial - I don't know the model, it's just straight and zig-zag, nothing fancy and I think it dates to about 1960ish.  She makes curtains professionally and says that that £100 was the best £100 buy ever.  It is now partnered with a modern Juki overlocker.

Brenda.  My machines are: Corona, a 1953 Singer 201K-3, Caroline, a 1940 Singer 201K-3, Thirza, 1949 Singer 221K, Azilia, 1957 Singer 201K-MK2 and Vera, a Husqvarna 350 SewEasy about 20 years old. Also Bernina 1150 overlocker and Elna 444 Coverstitcher.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.

Ohsewsimple

Re: What was your very first sewing machine ?
« Reply #21 on: September 24, 2017, 13:12:39 PM »
I first used my mum,s treadle, which used to belong to my Nan.  My brother and I would sit and see how fast we could get it to go.  :o. Then she had a 'posh' electric Jones which I used to sew on. 
School sewing soon put paid to me wanting to sew again, till I saw an Elna Lotus being used in John Lewis when I was 17.   Mum and I were out shopping.....and I came out with that!   Cost me around £80.  I made just about everything you could think of on it.  And I was completely smitten. 

Stitches

Re: What was your very first sewing machine ?
« Reply #22 on: September 24, 2017, 13:50:07 PM »
I first used my Mums treadle when i was 5 that was her grandma's then we got a New Home one dont know which one. the one I got on my own was a husqarva 500 comptur one still have it

SkoutSews

Re: What was your very first sewing machine ?
« Reply #23 on: September 24, 2017, 15:44:38 PM »
My mum had a Singer 401g and I learnt to sew on that, but it wasn't mine so it doesn't count! For my 21st I was given a Singer 163 Capri and sewed a lot of things on it over the years. Its good points were: all metal body and innards, very fast, traditional machine with straight, zigzag and stretch stitches. Bad points: horrible plastic insert around the free arm (why would they design it like that?), tension could be a bit iffy, no automatic buttonhole capability.
After its capacitor incident I bought a new Janome which took over as principal machine, then got the Singer fixed as back-up. When I bought my 'new' 401g, the Singer went on Gumtree and was sold to a lady who had learnt to sew on one exactly the same, which had belonged to her mother!