Treadle machine: yes or no
November 3, 2024 12:37 PM   Subscribe

As someone who has always wanted to be able to sew their own clothes, should I accept my great-grandmother’s treadle Singer machine? It’s in working order, I’m told, and it’s been refurbished in the past few years.

The machine has been in the family; it was very much used and treasured, then kept just as a side table. I have a vague memory of having to share the back seat of a sedan with it on a very crowded road trip. Now I’ve been offered it, if I can wrestle it down to my place.

I have always wanted to be able to sew simple garments. I used to use an up-to-date sewing machine for some high school work, but it was very difficult to handle and I would run out great lines of thread almost every day. Am I wrong in thinking a treadle machine, while requiring exercise, wouldn’t get out of control and might be easier to master for a novice? Or is this like a push mower and outdated for a reason? Would I be able to source parts, etc.?

(And no, I don’t know what it’s worth. It’s not being thrown out if I don’t take it, so taking it just to sell would be wrong.)
posted by Countess Elena to Home & Garden (21 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
This video from Bernadette Banner shows how she uses her treadle machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=cScrb9spc18

I have my grandmother's antique sewing machine (a Singer 66-16), but it's electric, not a treadle.
I found someone in my area that services antique machines to look at it, but overall my machine has required very little maintenance since I inherited it. I've also bought additional machine feet and bobbins for it on eBay.

One limitation you may find is that antique machines are purely straight stitch machines, so you won't be able to sew things that require zigzag stitches like knits.
posted by Lycaste at 1:01 PM on November 3 [2 favorites]


Fwiw push reel mowers are awesome! Better than ever in fact, and they have seen a resurgence in recent years. I love my Fiskars and enjoy the light/moderate exercise I get from it.

I also use and love a ~1970 Kenmore sewing machine. It's not a treadle, but it handles very differently than modern ones. I find it easier to go slowly and have good control, and I had similar experience to you when I got back into it. Part of the appeal of both the mower and the sewer is being really solid, sturdy machines, that are easy to clean/repair/maintain. There's very little to go wrong with your treadle machine, and you can keep it going for another lifetime if you want without much hassle.

So I recommend you go for it! Worst case is it ends up as a classy antique end table.
posted by SaltySalticid at 1:17 PM on November 3 [4 favorites]


If you want to sew non-stretch materials, which IMO is the sweet spot for home sewing anyway*, a decent treadle machine is fine. Wonderful for many, very quiet and responsive. You’ll be using old instruction books not new ones, but they’re easy to find.

I’d accept it if it can be threaded and sew a foot of decent seam before you take it home. If it needs to go to a mechanic first, then maybe, you know? They are getting rarer, but were built to be fixable.

*Stretch doesn’t have to fit well so it mass-produces cheaply. Non stretch needs to fit (or be looser) but then it lasts longer.

ETA: your great-grandmother? Wow!! Personally I’d be more willing to invest in a repair. Which it might not need! Old oil is sticky, but dissolvable (look up with what).
posted by clew at 1:20 PM on November 3 [3 favorites]


I gave away my treadle machine (which was my greatgrandfather's who was a tailor) during a move and still regret it so many years later. Unfortunately i simply do not have the space anymore but i hardly ever use the electric one i got instead. If you have the space i say take it. If the leather transmission strap is broken, or breaks, you can replace it with a nylon stocking (knotted to the right lenght), this was a fix my thrifty grandmother showed me and it worked fine for the many years i used it. Just a bit of trial and error for the length.
posted by 15L06 at 1:34 PM on November 3 [5 favorites]


I learned how to sew on one of those because the electric seemed too fast. You will be able to control the speed and start slowly and learn about guiding the fabric as you go. Plus, those machines are way less finiky.
posted by mightshould at 1:37 PM on November 3 [2 favorites]


I'd do it.

My sewing machine is a Singer 201. Mine is not treadle but they came in a treadle version and the stitch produced is the same. It's a wonderful machine, it sews anything and will likely last forever. If I ever get the space a treadle machine is on my list.

It probably needs lubricating and the tension calibrated or at least checked. You can of course get a mechanic to do it but if you or someone you are close with is proficient with their hands it is very possible to do yourself.

At that age it won't have anything other than straight stitch and possibly not reverse. Generations of sewers produced everything they needed anyway.
posted by deadwax at 1:37 PM on November 3 [2 favorites]


They are not outdated, that is, I know people who actively use theirs.

If you'd prefer not to treadle, there are ways to add an electric motor for most types.

Parts could be an issue, but if the machine was recently refurbished, that ought not to be an issue.

It sounds like there's a good chance this would work for you!

(As for sewing knits, even that need not be an issue if you use special stretchy thread, though to be honest, I'm not a fan.)
posted by demi-octopus at 1:39 PM on November 3 [1 favorite]


My grandmother gave her old treadle machine to me a few years before she passed away. It's a Pfaff 230 from the 1950s, and it still works very well - I have had it for 15 years, and it never needed service or anything beyond new needles (which you can still buy). I use it for patchwork and quilting and have made table runners, pillowcases, curtains and things like that, but not to sew clothes. I have, however, repaired and modified clothes made from non-elastic fabrics.

It is excellent at straight and zigzag stitches and can do things like buttonholes, but it doesn't do any elastic seams which you would need for elastic fabrics. The machine itself is very sturdy and can sew through six layers of heavy jeans fabric, which most modern machines cannot do.

I never did any sewing whatsoever before getting this machine, so my grandma actually gave me a new hobby. I think of her every time I use it.
posted by amf at 1:48 PM on November 3 [10 favorites]


Hey, my oldest sister sewed all of our school dresses on my mom's treadle sewing machine when I was in grade school! (No, I wasn't born in 1851.) And I, too, sewed for many years on that machine. It didn't have any fancy stitches (only had one: a straight line), but it worked great. I eventually got an electric sewing machine, but I inherited the treadle machine from my mother and kept it because it was so cool-looking. It weighs about a million pounds. I dragged it from my smallish town to Seattle, then to San Francisco. When I eventually moved back to my smallish town, I left it with my sister, who lives near San Francisco, because I didn't have the bandwidth to keep dragging around a million pounds no matter how cool and lovely it was.

I think it would probably be easier to control the speed of stitching with a treadle machine, which might be helpful for a beginner. Once you get the hang of things, you might want to move on to an electric sewing machine (or maybe you'll want to stick with the treadle machine). I do wonder what kind of machine you used in high school that ran out of thread so quickly ... that doesn't seem typical ... hmmm. I don't know how hard it would be to get parts. I do know that during all the years that my mom had the treadle machine and all the years we all used it, it never needed any parts.
posted by SageTrail at 2:14 PM on November 3 [1 favorite]


Here is a link to a machine on e-bay that is exactly like the one I inherited from my mom. The only thing that ever needed repair was a leather drive belt that snapped. My dad repaired it by simply threading a wire through each end of the broken leather belt to sort of "stitch" each end back together ... worked perfectly!
posted by SageTrail at 2:52 PM on November 3 [1 favorite]


I can't speak to treadle machines, but it sounds like your old machine was broken or improperly threaded or something. I wouldn't use that as a comparison. Speaking as a pretty mediocre sewer, a modern machine being "hard to control" looks like going a little too fast and your line of stitches veering off course, not what you were describing.
posted by umwelt at 3:50 PM on November 3 [2 favorites]


Best answer: As others have said, unless you want to sew stretchy fabrics (for which you need zigzag; zigzag attachments exist for straight stitch machines, but can be unwieldy), an old cast iron Singer will be perfectly fine. I have a 99 which I still use all the time, and really like. It's extremely reliable and predictable. (I have a backup zigzag machine, which is more fussy, and I hardly ever use it.) Because the thread path is visible on the outside, you can see exactly where the threading goes and how it works. Everything is mechanical and pretty simple; there are few things that can go wrong.

Further advice is dependent on its condition and the exact model. Machines from this era don't have visible model numbers unless they were manufactured in the late 20th century, but there are a few very common models which can be identified visually or by serial number (make sure you count the number of digits correctly). Because the most common models were made for decades with few changes, and because a lot of accessories are cross-compatible between models, manufacturers and eras, parts are likely to be available if you need them.

If the machine has a boss under the hand wheel, you can (non-destructively) attach a generic external belt motor, if you don't like treadling.

If it's a 15, it uses the most common modern domestic bobbin, needle and (sort of) feet. If it's a 66 or a 99, the bobbin is different but still easy to find. If it's a 201, the bobbin is the same as for a 66 or 99 but the machine will be much more picky about modern metal reproductions (they need to be smooth, or the thread will snag). If it's a specific very old 66 submodel, it uses special feet that Singer made briefly and then immediately gave up on. If it's a 27/28/127/128 (vibrating shuttle) the bobbin is a long bobbin which may be harder to find, but I believe that reproductions are still made.

If it's older than the vibrating shuttle models (unlikely) then it will probably need a weird older needle type which is inconvenient to source, and that may be a problem (needles are consumable).

I say sort of about the feet, because most of these older domestic models use the low shank standard, and most modern domestic models use clip-on feet which clip onto a low shank, but there are various complications. Anyway, if you want more specialised feet, and modern feet don't quite fit, original vintage feet should be pretty easy to find (these models are common, and lots of them were made).

The common models are pretty well-documented online -- you can find lots of manuals, blog posts and videos about them. (If you have a 15, watch out -- for a brief period Singer made submodels with the bobbin handedness, needle direction and threading reversed, so make sure that the instructions you're looking at match what your machine looks like!)

If you post some photos, it should be straightforward to ID the machine and find a free manual. I used to be obsessed with this as an internet hobby a few years ago, and I'm a bit rusty, but I still have a lot of links to resources, and I'm sure a lot of other people here do as well! This is a bit of a niche interest, but so is sewing in general, and I'd say that quite a lot of people who sew also love these old machines and know stuff about them.

General vintage sewing machine research advice: watch out for AI slop (and artisanal pre-AI human content farm slop), and at the other end watch out for link rot (a lot of good old sites are defunct, but may be archived by the Wayback Machine).
posted by confluency at 4:58 PM on November 3 [8 favorites]


I forgot to add probably the most important thing: vintage machines and modern machines both have their advantages and disadvantages. Some people very strongly prefer one or the other; this is a matter of personal taste. Vintage machines are a separate sewing-adjacent hobby with its own learning curve. So while I'm obviously biased here I don't want to oversell the idea that this machine will be easier to use than the modern one you tried, or that you will like it more. You won't know until you've tried it! But it's definitely a viable option (w.r.t. usability, parts, etc.), so if you think the machine is cool and you're interested in trying it, go for it!
posted by confluency at 5:06 PM on November 3


I’ve used a treadle machine. It was a Chinese “Butterfly” brand. I loved it, it was quiet and so relaxing. I always feel like I’m fighting my modern one. The one I used didn’t have a reverse stitch. In fact it didn’t do anything except a straight stitch so it’s not very practical but it sure was fun.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:10 PM on November 3


I'd do it! Treadle machines are infinitely repairable and have a resale market. Worst case, it collects dust for a while until you find someone else who wants it.

I have a hand crank machine and love it. I find that being able to operate the machine at human speed and not machine speed makes it easier to figure out what I am doing before I make a big mistake. I also find them easier to understand and fix on my own. I love my hand crank machine but it is a learning curve to figure out quilting with one hand, but with a treadle, that isn't an issue.

If you decide you want a motor, most treadle machines have a motor attachment that can be added instead of the treadle. It's an easy conversion.
posted by blnkfrnk at 5:14 PM on November 3


Do it! My neighbor has an old hand-cranked Singer that I'm super jealous of (that we used to sew some backdrops together, 3 of us carefully maneuvering acres of fabric), and my parents had a treadle machine when I was growing up, and it was so nice to have that control.

Those old Singers are fabulous machines.
posted by straw at 7:12 PM on November 3


Response by poster: Thanks, y’all! This sounds encouraging! I don’t know the model number, but I can find out. All I know is that it belonged to my grandfather’s mother in the 1930s if not earlier.

SageTrail, umwelt: when I was a teen, I did some school work duty in the theater department, and I helped with costumes. They had a very fast sewing machine that would run out a chain of thread well past the fabric if I wasn’t careful, plus I could create awful tangles. I got less terrible at it, but now I don’t remember how it worked anyway. So that was what I was thinking of.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:14 AM on November 4 [2 favorites]


Lots of great info here on the treadle machines. I'll just add that with a modern electronic machine, like a Brother, being able to choose stitch type (and also perhaps stitch width and length) with just a few keypresses really is a nice feature. Being able to easily buttonhole, and even automagically sew on buttons, was a game-changer for me.

Most have variable-speed pedals, and if you're concerned about accidentally running the machine at full speed, it's usually fairly trivial to open up the pedal, and either put in a small wedge or block, or a nut and bolt (for adjustment) to give the pedal an adjustable stop, so that even if you accidentally stomp on it, it will only run at about 30% or 50% or whatever speed, instead of full speed. (You can also get into modifying the electronics to accomplish the same thing, but that's rather more involved.)
posted by xedrik at 3:10 PM on November 4 [1 favorite]


"a very fast sewing machine that would run out a chain of thread well past the fabric" – that sounds like a serger, which is a whole different kettle of fish.
posted by dum spiro spero at 8:21 PM on November 4 [1 favorite]


As a middle-aged dude with nearly zero sewing experience, this discussion is fascinating. I love a quality tool, and sewing machines are one of the coolest tools of all time. Cooler than bicycles, almost as cool as libraries.
posted by Wild_Eep at 1:47 PM on November 5 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: dum spiro spero: I looked it up, and I think you’re right, even though I don’t think I’d heard it called that.
posted by Countess Elena at 12:47 PM on November 7


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