Saturday 14 August 2021

The Delights of Vintage Sewing Machines

I love old sewing machines.  They are wonderful feats of engineering, are incredibly sturdy and hard-wearing and they look great to boot!  I have three.  I'm trying hard to be reasonable and stop there because who needs more than three sewing machines?  (Actually I have 4 as I also have a modern, electronic machine).  

What got my love story started was when I found an old Frister & Rossmann for £15 in a charity shop several years ago.  Then I bought a beautiful 1937 Singer 27 hand-crank which was in perfect condition.  And lastly I thought I really needed a treadle machine and that's my 1913 Singer 15 with oscillating shuttle.  They are all great machines and I treasure them.  

However, this blogpost is about a new machine.  My youngest daughter decided she'd like a sewing machine of her own, one she can keep and take with her when she sets up her own home.  A few weeks ago, I saw one again in a local charity shop...  I went in and turned the crank but it was really stiff and barely moved, the machine was dirty and I couldn't quite tell how well it would run.  I returned to look at it again with my daughter and after a bit more examination, she decided to purchase it.

I had not heard of this make before:  Mundlos (a German company) which was sold in the UK under the name "Royal".

It was a bit dusty and dirty... but the metal appeared in good condition everywhere.


Interestingly, it says "Foreign" on the back.

Some of the parts, caked in old oil didn't move at all.  But after a good cleaning, dusting, wiping, oiling, and spinning, it turns out this was a good buy!  Everything works on it and it's now shining and running smoothly.  It's a nice compact machine and I know it will give my daughter many good years of service (no doubt her lifetime in fact if she looks after it!).  I'm pretty sure, from looking up its serial number, that it was manufactured in 1938.


It has an interesting pattern on the metal plates which can be found on that small front plate, on the face plate and on the back one:


At some point in its life, someone had glued (I think?) a small metal pin cushion on the lid of the side container box.  Update 05.11.21:  Thanks to Anke's comment and her pointing me to a website about these machines, I now know that the pin cushion was an integral part of this machine.  They were sold like that, with that small pincushion attached to the lid of the side container.  Neat!




It had saw dust in it but had become so hard over the years that it was practically impossible to push pins into it.  The old pink velvet was also in bad condition so I removed everything and made a freshly filled pincushion to put back into the metal casing, in green.  There is it, ready to be used.




All in all a very good machine.  It has a reverse gear and even an unusual little lever to lift the bobbin up from its carrier.  It can be seen next to the bobbin winder in the main photo.

I bet there are several of you, reading this, who also own vintage machines.  I'd love to hear about them so please let me know what you have!



Best wishes,
Frivole

21 comments:

  1. How wonderful that it scrubbed up so well. I had my mum’s old hand Singer machine, but I’d disappeared from storage. Someone coveted it. I was thinking about it yesterday, funnily enough. It’s much more robust than my modern one.

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    1. Oh yes, they are wonderfully sturdy aren't they? I just love how they were built to last... and they do! Sorry you seem to have lost your Mum's machine. My mum had a treadle one when I was young (though I'm not sure she used it) but sadly I don't know where that went.

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  2. They were made to last not like the machines of today, I remember my mother had an old singer with a tread foot when i was younger, today I don't have a machine, I really don't have the space for one and what small amount of sewing I do I can by hand. Enjoy your machines

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    1. I don't have space for one either... let alone four! :-)) But I just can't part with them so I find a little corner somewhere to fit them in. I don't do quite as much sewing now but when my children were young, I sewed a lot of their clothes (particular loved making smocked and embroidered dresses for my girls).

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    2. As much as I would love a sewing machine, my hubby does not think its worth it for the small amount of sewing I do, in lockdown I made a peg bag, lined a blanket and made two bags of our masks, all hand sewn. Perhaps one day I might get one,

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  3. Fabulous! I've sold all but two of my vintage machines. I still have two Singer Featherweights, one from 1952 and one from 1969. The one from 1952 is a rebuilt machine in cobalt blue, one of my favorite colors. 1952 is the year I was born. The 1969 machine is white and was a gift from my mom and dad. 1969 is the year I graduated from high school. I didn't have a place to set up my two treadle machines or my hand crank machine. The two treadle machines just became tabletops, and the hand crank machine spent most of its time in a closet. I have a friend who wanted them for her granddaughters. I know they are well loved, and I can visit them!

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    1. Hi Diane, oh wow, I didn't even know they made Singer in colours! I thought there were all black. It's really neat you can have two machines manufactured on dates of significance for you. A featherweight is one machine I'd love to own... but really I can't keep getting more machines! I don't get my treadle out as often as I'd like (because it's stored under my desk) but I do use it regularly as I do the crank machines. I'm currently making a new summer dress on the 1937 hand crank. It is nice to know your machines are now giving pleasure to others (and as you say... you can visit them!).

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    2. The original machines were available only in black. The man who reconditioned mine let me choose my color. Naturally, it had to be blue! I figured since it was not in its original state anyway, I might as well have it in a color that pleased me!

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    3. Ah! That makes sense Diane. I started looking up Singer Featherweights after reading your comment and have now seen them in lots of colours! Do you use it often? Do you use it exclusively or do you have another "modern" machine as well? I just had a week away and enjoyed making two dresses on my 1937 Singer 27 hand crank. I just love those machines!

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  4. A week ago I rescued a 1951 Singer Featherweight sewing machine. The machine had all its parts.Hubby wired all new cords on it. I oiled all its moving parts. I cleaned and polished it. While cleaning it I discovered it was a badged a Singer 100h anniversary edition machine! Oh boy! It’s a wonderful find! I’ve already taken it to 2 sewing events.

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    1. Hi Anita, lucky you finding a nice Featherweight! As I said above to Diane, a featherweight is one machine I'd love to own. I'd like to see yours if you're able to send photos! 100th edition must be really special! :-)

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  5. Great looking machine!!! Fun to rescue and sew with. It looks splendid! Love the bobbin ejector!

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    1. Yes, bobbin ejector is an unusual and neat feature! It's a great machine and I'm really pleased for my daughter.

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  6. I love the looks of the older sewing machines!! That is fabulous now that it sparkles!! :)

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  7. Wonderful! (Blogger keeps eating my comments, testing with this)

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    1. Obviously, that previous one worked.

      Anyway, I love hardware restoration of all kinds, so this was a gleeful post to read. Your work is astonishing, it looks brand new

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    2. Aw, thank you so much Ariane! What do you like to restore?

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  8. Adorable machine, my mother has one singer from 1942 and I love the perfect stitches it still brings.

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    1. Hi Alejandra, yes, they certainly are great machines! Do you ever use your mother's?

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  9. What a great collection!
    I am German and I never heard of Mundlos sewing machines before so I did an Ecosia search and I found a site with many pictures! Several machines have a pincushion glued on - it seems to be a special part of Mundlos :-)
    Want to take a look? https://www.naehmaschinenverzeichnis.de/verzeichnis-der-naehmaschinen/mundlos/

    Have fun with your pretty sewing machines!!!

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    1. Oh my Gosh Anke, you are right! Thank you for the link. So interesting to see that yes, the metal pincushion seems to be an integral part of the Mundlos machine. I thought it had been added on by a previous owner of the machine. Nice to know!

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