Saturday 27 August 2011

My Antique Sewing Machine

I just had to show you all this very old sewing machine i bought from the boot sale last week for £5 . It looked a bit unloved and the person who was selling it said an elderly lady gave it to her after she found it in her shed. Luckily all the attachments were still with it. ......The next thing was to see if it worked so with the help of Cherry, who has a similar machine with a shuttle and not a bobbin that i am use to we managed to get it to sew...... I then polished  the case with some brown shoe polish to bring out the grain of the wood........

Florence can be very annoying at times when i am sewing she loves to play with the thread ....., but i still love her.

All set up and ready to sew.. Can you spot Florence she just loves to watch me sewing.......

Before i polished the case with shoe polish...

Look at the difference. I think it looks much better polished up....
All the original bits and pieces that were with the machine.....


After doing some research on the age of the machine i found it was made in 1895 making it 116 years old, but i was unable to find out where it was made... That got me to thinking, Who would have been able to afford a sewing machine like this one?....After all,  times in those days were very hard especially if you were poor....... Maybe it came from a big Victorian house and was used by a seamstress, who cleverly made all those lovely clothes you see in period drama's on the television.  I would love to know, but can only speculate...I love the nostalgia from the past...


Milly is 9 years old and managed to thread the machine on her own she then made these lovely pieces for her mummy and daddy. .... Young children were made to work from an early age in the Victorian times when this machine was made  i wonder if a 9 year old  then would have used this machine just like Milly..........


This sewing machine is one of my best buys and hopefully when my granddaughters are Milly's age they will be able to learn skills at sewing so we don't loose these skills taught to us by our parents and grandparents......

8 comments:

  1. What a great find! and in such good shape. My first thought was-what still runs after 116 years?! surely nothing made today will be around that long!

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  2. Florence is soooooo pretty... give her a hug for me.

    Nice job on the machine and case.... would have never thought about shoe polish.... I like the idea!

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  3. What a find.. Hope to see you on Wednesday. x

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  4. My Mother had a machine very similar to this one. From the age of three I sat on a high stool and turned the handle whilst my Mother sewed curtains. I was also in charge of rewinding the bobbin when it ran out. It was the first machine I learnt to sew on!!! Funny how memories come back. Lovely find cu Wednesday Joan

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  5. What a find! Love old sewing machines...such a work of art. Thanks for the visit....

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  6. such a lovely photo of florence and the polished case looks Great too - Milly is lucky to have you to help create such happy memories and lovely work too - catch up tomorrow xxx

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  7. I have a machine in a box like that, that my gran gave me. It is lovely to think about the history behind something so old and who may have used it before you. Thank you for beginning to follow me, good luck with the crochet....watch you don't get hooked like me!

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  8. What a beauty!! I bought a machine like this but not so old. It's good to know that you will care for it for a few more years, like you I wonder who would have owned this machine and what they would have made..... I obviously need to visit more boot fairs - you seem to find some real treasures.

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