You might want to try posting this over on the 'Sewing' forum. Seems like there's a lot of knowledgeable people over there, and it is quite active. Click on link below. Here is a link that might be useful: Sewing Forum

My dad passed recently and we've been going through the house. Mom's been gone for 11 years and I've had some things for a while but recently acquired a few new things....quick lists: Books my dad had when he was a kid (couple of Oz books) as well as some of his uncle's school books from the early 1900s. My mom's grandmother's "good crystal" that was a wedding present in the 19-teens (I've had this for a while now). Recently got a bunch of stuff from the kitchen (rolling pin, baking pans, cookbooks). Some jewelry; mostly costume but I have Mom's mother's ring and her re-set wedding set. My brother has all my dad's tools and recently was gifted all my mom's father's tools. He was an auto mechanic for years and fashioned his own tools for certain things. All the tool chests as well. Tons of tools! They'll all get used!

Calliope--I'm surprised that you've found doing the conversions so difficult. I have over 60 machines and done literally dozens of conversions from electric to treadle, with none of the problems you had. I'm a sewing machine collector and use only treadles or handcranks in my custom quilting business. Couple of things to know: 1)Select the right model: The first thing to look for is the belt groove in the handwheel--if you don't have a belt groove, you can't treadle the machine. Any handcrank machine, and many pre-1960 electrics can be treadled. I've never seen a handcrank Singer machine that didn't have a belt groove because the company saved money by making one type of wheel and using it on all its models whether handcrank, treadle, or early electric. Later, Singer switched to solid wheels for all its electrics, so that you have swap out the wheels if you want to use a handcrank on them, but with just a few exceptions (see #3) they still work fine for treadling. 2) Many companies sold portable handcrank machines that have a belt slot in the case. You would buy the portable, then later buy a cabinet that you could set the case into and you belted it up from through the slot. I have two Nationals and one Jones handcrank and all three of them have the belt slot in the case. I'm on a mission to find the treadle base for the National handcranks--I've never seen one "in the wild" although I have over a dozen regular National treadle machines. 3) Back to the electric Singers: there were a couple of models made that had direct-gear drives: the 101, 201 and 15-91 are the most commonly found gear-driven models. Singer did not put grooved wheels on these, so they can't be treadled. Many other companies (White, New Home, and National to name a few) went to friction-drive electric motors and these often have groove-less wheels as well, so they can't be converted to treadle. 4) The actual conversion is quite easy, IF you have a cabinet that your sewing machine with fit into without modification. I have done it literally dozens of times and I don't have any mechanical aptitude to speak of. The easiest conversions for my money are the 1940s and 50s Japanese machines, which are "clones" of the Singer 15, and will go right into a Singer base. They are fairly common, inexpensive and come in cool colors. However, if you have a cabinet other than a Singer, or a head that's not compatible, it's gets harder. My preferred method is to rescue orphan treadle irons (virtually any brand will work) and have my husband make a top for them to fit the machine I plan to use and just put them together. I call these set-ups "mongrels". I have one mongrel treadle that I use only for taking to demonstrations. I can knock it down and set it back up in less than five minutes. You can see picture of the traveling treadle in my "Other Machines" album, pictures of my studio table, with five heads mounted in it (three of which came to me as electrics: 1960s zig-zagger, 1950s Japanese 15 which I use for FM quilting and a mid-century National chainstitcher) in the "Quilting Studio" album. The are some shots of another Japanese 15 in a "mongrel" table in the "Quilting Retreat" album--it's one we put together at the last minute for me to use for my demo machine that weekend and is one of my favorites; the irons we used have an over-sized flywheel and it treadles like a dream. BTW--if you notice the students in the "Retreat" album, every one one of them is sewing on an electric machine that was popped into a treadle table when they got to the class because I wanted them to learn on the machine they planned to sew on at home. I'd be happy to talk to you off-list if you like. My e-mail addy is: toomanydogs@chibardun.net Annie Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's webshots albums

Hi Elizabeth, i've only written in this forum twice, but read it everyday. i have a newer Singer treadle from the 30's, the cabinet hasn't even a scratch in it, was left to my sil when her aunt passed on (we got a lovely desk) and she was supposed to have it shipped to her home and it lived in our garage for 6 months till i brought it in the house and took it, have had it for 6 years and love it. here at machine you have would go for about 125.00 (sorrY), but you can go on the singer site and get some great info about your machine! yours is a beautiful machine make sure you use it and love it, i have a feeling your neighbour knows that you would take good care of it and love it. debbie