My Collection

Some women collect teapots, cookbooks, dolls, bottles, books, friends on FaceBook, shoes and clothes. Some women even collect husbands. What do I collect? I love old sewing machines. Yeah, those old vintage sewing machines. I have at least 16 vintage machines. I can't tell you off the top of my head what all of them are, but most of them are from 40-75 years old. I don't have them all up and running, but that is my goal when I retire.

To name a few, I have a black Singer 99K, a green Singer 185J and there is one treadle machine among them. The majority of them are Singers. No they don't sing, they are made by the Singer Sewing Machine Co.  Sorry, I couldn't resist!

 I also have two that are from the '80s and one sewing/embroidery machine that was manufactured in 2005. I could've bought a car for what I paid for that one. The least expensive one is a Singer 401 that I bought at a yard sale for $5. Yeah, $5. It doesn't have a cord, but I turned the wheel by hand and it does sew. I just have to get a cord for it and have it serviced.

I particularly like the old black sewing machines. I guess that's because that's what my Mama had, an old black Singer. I believe it is a model 66. One of my sisters has it.

My husband bought 6 of the vintage machines for me for my birthday a couple of years ago. I haven't looked at Craig's list since then because I know I can't resist the old machines. : )

Then a couple of days ago, I looked...and found two machines that I HAD to have. A full size Southern Pride (black with gold decorations) in a cabinet and a Janome Sew Mini still in the box. The Sew Mini is one that you can buy new, but this one was a steal! It has never been opened and I thought it would be a good one to use in teaching our granddaughter to sew when she's a little older. What to do....Would hubby let me have more? Where would we put them? Who cares! I HAVE to have them! LOL Just kidding, but you know what I mean. : ) Update: As I learn more about sewing machines, I know that I would never buy one of these plastic machine again. The old girls are so much better, even for teaching little ones to sew. Live and learn.)

I emailed and found that they were both still available, made arrangements to pick up the Southern Pride. I decided that maybe I would sneak it in and tell hubby later. (insert evil laugh and rubbing hands together)

I had saved the web pages for the two machines on my desktop. Then I decided I'd hide them til I got up the nerve to talk to hubby about them...after I bought them. : )  I mean, really, what man in his right mind would want 19 sewing machines in the house?

Too late! He'd already seen them. Oh no! He came in, sat down at the computer and said "I thought you had some sewing machines on here" I said "I did, I put them in a folder."(I showed him where they were) He clicked on the black and gold one and said "this one looks really good and it's a good price too. You need to get this one. What about the other one?" I told him about the Sew Mini and he said "I'll pay for them if you'll pick them up."

That's when it went all warm and fuzzy. Don't you just love it when they "get" you? He really gets that I have this passion for vintage sewing machines and supports me all the way. I LOVE that man! I think I'll keep him another 39 years.

I'll post some photos in a few days. This post is a little long already. I have a tendency to ramble...like now. Anyway, I have a quilting retreat going on at my house for a few days starting tomorrow.  I'll tell you about that next time.

Have a great day!