Gandle, I'm sure that old Singer is mad better than the new models with all the bells & whistles. I know that's true for some of the old kitchen appliances (like my mom's old waffle iron that's 66 years old & still working like a charm) we've got in our kitchen.

My aunt used to make almost all my clothes when I was little. She'd make Chesterfield coats with velvet collars and hand-smock dresses that were just beautiful.

I'm sure your granddaughters will love their quilts. They will be great family heirlooms.

I better quit posting for a while, now that I've posted this I do remember posting something about Leone's sewing machines perhaps a year ago. Better quit while I think I'm still ahead.

My mother made almot all of my sister's and my clothes. I remember to this day the first bought complete outfits I had. I had a few individual things but never an outfit. I was in 9th grade. Never could learn to sew well. Even took an extra year of home ec. Hated it. Was lousy at it. My sister got that gene, and I got the gardening and cooking gene. I think my mother has the same Singer sewing machine, Gandle. Sounds like the right age and console and heavy sure rings a bell.

No worries gandle - I can talk sewing machines all day long. :-) Those old machines had nice metal gearing and parts. They last forever, but you sure don't want to haul them around to classes. One arm would be longer than the other one for sure! I've got one, and when I get that one out, it's a production. The new super-inexpensive ones have plastic gears and when they break, they can't be fixed.

I learned to sew (with a machine rather than by hand) on a really old Singer... the kind you made go by pushing a peddle (looked more like a paddle) with your foot. When I still quite small we made aprons -does anyone remember *those*?- with fancy pockets and applique or embroidered bands, and sold them at the farmer's market. Those aprons eventually paid for a Necchi, which in turn was replaced with an Elna (the portable version of a Necchi). And you're right - those new-fangled electric machines weren't nearly as good as the old Singer when it comes to sewing through denim or other heavy materials. I made all DD's clothing (except shoes and socks) until she was a teenager, and I suspect making a pair of jeans is a fast way to find out if the sewing machine is any good - not too many machines can stitch neatly through eight layers of denim.

However, watching a new machine do fancy embroidery is fun, and I admit that I rather like having a button-hole maker... I also admit that I've done little sewing since I convinced DD that store-bought jeans were just as good as I could make. Oh dear, I just remembered that she was in the 9th grade at that time. Tibs, I think I understand your mom's motivation...

Joy Ross up in Sand Canyon still makes quilts every winter. Steve in Baltimore County

Quilting is very big down here. I think it always has been, but in the past couple of decades it's had a real resurgence. I have several friends who are into quilting and their groups make beautiful things. Of course these days, quilts can be machine stitched which makes the job a whole lot easier, but I think the original advantages of women being able to get together to work on a project (or projects) and also be able to socialize still has meaning today.

I remember a couple of years ago when the World Series waa going to be played in Houston (was that the year the other team was the White Sox?) the east coast media was laughing because hotel rooms were almost impossible to find because the game dates in the city were the same time as the huge quilt show that's held in Houston every autumn. The broadcasters were like - Quilt show? What is that all about? And why would it be so popular as to take up almost all teh hotel rooms in a city?

Those of us who know about this were just shaking out heads at their so-called sophisticated ignorance.

Not to worry Gandle because alot of us missed the other sewing machine thread. I could also talk sewing machines (and knitting needles - metal vs. bamboo) all day long.

My mother sewed lots of clothes for us when we were kids, like you said including coats!! Sewing holds so many memories. My mom and I took the train down to Chicago to shop Marshall Fields fabric department for just the right material for my prom dress. I didn't have to be worried that I'd see anyone else walking around the prom in the same dress.

I never had home ec. in high school so as a young married woman I begged mom to teach me how to sew and I was off to the races.

For awhile when the kids were little my sewing machine was a revenue generator, the dolls, clothes and Christmas decorations created on that machine allowed me to be a stay-at-home mom.

In the mid-70's I invested in a very pricey electronic Singer. But as electronics have the habit of doing, it fried out sometimes in the 1990's. I've been sewing (sometimes daily for years) on a little Brother machine I picked up at Gag-Mart.

The older machines such as Leona's are far superior because all the internal parts are metal. You could literally drive over them with a Mack truck and they'd keep on going. I'm holding my breath on the Brother because many of the internal parts are plastic.

It's funny you posted this today, because as soon as I'm off the computer here I'm into my sewing room to construct an evening jacket for the cruise we're taking at the end of the month. It's a Vogue pattern by designer Guy Laroche. I love the process of clothing construction, it's actually quite interesting.

I'll try and take a picture when I'm finished.

Thanks Gandle. Maybe I'll look for one of those older Singer's on EBay. Awwww...the shipping would kill me though.

I have an old treadle machine set up in my kitchen. I leave it there for quickie mending jobs, threaded and ready to go. Upstairs in my sewing room are the old Nechi machine my father bought my mother fifty years ago, and a new machine I bought myself. Put away upstairs are four very old treadle machine heads my mother collected over the years I keep stashed to ensure there shall always be a machine to mount on my treadle base. Using a treadle machine is a therapeutic experience. For basic sewing, the quality of the finished work equals or exceeds that put out by any modern equipment. As you work, you hear the rhythm of the pedal cranking and the whir of the flywheel. It's a lot like spinning. Believe it or not, my old machine does have the capacity to make button-holes, ruffles, smocking, and other fancy work I shall never use. The only difference is that it isn't built in. It only takes a second, however, to apply the attachment to the presser foot. This machine is likely from the late 1800s and is still working. What does that tell you about how it is made?

My modern machine has a plastic housing for the foot pedal. It's so cheaply made, it travels all over the floor and falls over on its side and I'm always hunting for it with my foot. It stalls and stops in heavy material and hemming denim is a joke. My old machines bite right through rug material like I was sewing tissue. I would much rather invest my consumer dollar in high quality materials of manufacture than bells and whistles. Modern machines are meant to be pitched when they break, not repaired. That's a very sad state.

Here is a link that might be useful:

My mom could imagine a garment, take a newspaper,cut the
pattern out and then make it. She was incredible. My sister
can sew, but me, shoot, I can barely sew on a button.
Mom had an old singer, my stepdad put an electric motor on
it. I'm not sure what ever happened to it.

Gandle, you post whatever you want to. If it's been over a
week, I wouldn't remember it anyway and it would be new to me.:0)

Suzanne, I want to see that jacket. I knew you could do
lots of things but didn't know about the sewing, it's nice
to be surrounded by such smart, talented friends.

I was another child dressed in home-sewn clothes...and, Gandle, I remember the feed sacks. Mother collected them from farmers' wives in VA where we lived while Dad was overseas and made our p.j.s, playclothes and sundresses. Fabric and readymade clothes were rationed and so nicer fabric was saved for school clothes. Mom had a portable electric Singer, shiny black with gold and I think red scrolling as decoration, with a footpedal. It had a domed wooden top which was removable. It went all over the US with us during those war years. Mom had a new console later but didn't sew much after the war...so as I grew up I never really learned to sew.

In the 60's I saw one very like the portable I remembered at a yardsale, bought it for only $25 thinking I'd start sewing. Hah! My Home Ec classes (required in high school) didn't "take" either, and after making just a couple of basic sheath dresses and needing help with finicky zippers I stuck to making pop-over-the-head caftans and hemming jeans. lol Sold it 15 or so years later for $25 and the young woman was thrilled with it. I'll bet it's still going strong!

Re old appliances, Singer also made a tiny electric fan with heavy canvas "blades" ... still purring during 1-hour daily use since I bought it about 25 years ago. I use it while I'm dressing, it's only about 12 inches tall, and even if you stick your hand in it the fabric blades don't hurt. (There's no wire guard...just the fan and motor on a small stand.) I think it might have been made perhaps for a child's room? Anyway, it's neat. Someone told me it dated back to the 1930's.

Good thread...as usual, Gandle, you bring out good memories. josh