Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Vintage Sewing

My sister got me this beauty as a wedding gift. I'd love to have a humble collection of antique sewing machines, so this White brand table with a built-in machine makes the perfect beginning piece.

Its four drawers are filled with relics from the past...old buttons, some vintage patterns, an oil can, tape measures. Just think of all the clothes that were fashioned, quilts that were pieced, and other homemade items that were sewn on this old machine.

I'm looking into when it was possibly made and what model it is, etc. It has a serial number of 1537612, which evidently puts it somewhere around 1903-1910. However, because of its markings, cabinet/stand, and shape, it seems more like a Vibrating Shuffle (VS) II or III, which, from what I've read, were made in the 1890s. Singer kept good records of its various models, but I've read in several places that White didn't do as thorough of a job in its record keeping. I'm on a mission to find out more about it.

7 comments:

Medinga said...

wow, how cool!

Marisa said...

Thats beautiful Sarah! You can use your librarian investigative skills to find out about the antique sewing machine :)

Anonymous said...

Awesome!

Melissa said...

Wow, Sarah, it's BEAUTIFUL. What a lovely and personal gift from your "sissy". :)

Lindahl News 2 said...

She's a beaut! Don't you just love wondering about her owner(s) and all the items stitched long ago?

I inherited a vintage White sewing machine and haved loved going through the drawers, too. Contents sound similar to yours. My favorite things found? Many pairs of sissors, big and small, and still pretty darn sharp as cutters. Apparently, cutting through the natural fibers of lon ago instead of synthetics like polyester and nylon, is a good thing!

Michael-Sarah-Greta-Calla-Samuel said...

sarah...i love the machine! on a completely unrelated note...we are coming into town, along with nicole & sam rule and we're throwing a bbq, but i don't have your email to send you an evite. nicole would LOVE to see you (along with the rest of us!). you can email me at sarahparkjohnson@gmail.com. it's next wed, 6/18 at paul's house around 6pm.

Vivian Love said...

This is beautiful! What a great gift!