Irishrose2

Why? Because I have an addictive personality and for a while I was addicted to vintage machines. Thank goodness, it's over. I have sold a blackside Singer 128, given away a 1926 National treadle and plan on disposing of more. What will I keep? My precious Elna, 2 Singer 301s (one to use, one for back up), maybe a MW early 70s machine to back up the Elna and the Singer Redeye treadle gifted to me by my son. He searched five states, so I had better keep it. The rest can go.
The worst purchase was a pretty turquoise Universal. I wanted a machine like my mother's White, couldn't find one so bought the Universal because it looked very similar. It's a left seated machine and wouldn't do for quilting, so it needs to leave. A pretty face isn't everything! The Necchi - because of the name, the shininess of the black and a great price. Nice machine and I actually like the knee control, but it's not in use, so .... The shiny black MW with green shamrocks. Enough said. Look at my name. It is in use as it's a very straight stitcher and the 301 often has a quilt being FMQed, so I need a piecer. 1925 White Family? - painted so pretty and a decent price. Second Redeye? Better decals than my first one. I'm thinking of switching out the head. I don't care if it's treadle or an e machine. Admiral - pretty 50s machine. Black, shiny and an interesting square shape. The list goes on.

leonf

Llike Cari, I too am looking at furniture I may not really need. Shall I replace my dining room table with several cabinets and a chunk of plywood across them? A table cloth would cover it up wouldn't it? Just not going to use treadle.

NZ, you need to look at Tulsa Cl. lots of VSM porn there.

NZquilter

If I'm ever desperate for any machines I know where to look! I'm amazed at how many Tulsa has all the time And it's not too far from me either.

SteveH

This is from last year. Just one view. I have more now
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MimiBug123

I think I started because I like "stuff." I started out with machines that matched rooms in my house. Aqua went in the dining room, pink in the guest room, etc. Then I discovered vintage Singers. I already had my grandmother's 1904 66 treadle, which is what I learned to sew on while sitting in her lap. My legs were too short to reach the treadle. Then I found a 1951 15-91 Centennial edition at a neighbor's garage sale for $50 and it sews like a dream and is in a beautiful cabinet. In the meantime, I collected machines that were interesting. I have a 1953 Bond machine, which is the same model as me. I also started picking up Featherweights along the way and now have 6, ranging from 1936 to 1953, again, same as me. I now have about 40 machines and am going to start thinning the herd. Our church sends a group to a Mexican mission twice a year. I've already taken one treadle and plan to take about 20 more machines. I need to service some of them first, but that will help with our downsizing. My children sure don't want them, so I'll send them to someone who does!

themadpatter

Lol! It's like we are all the same person in different bodies. My first machine was the Ancestral Necchi I inherited from Mom, a Supernova Ultra Mark 2. You. Must. Never. Pass. One. By. Really, they are so marvelous. I started picking up machines at the GW, but I got icky plastic ones because I didn't know what I was doing. I refer to these as my "Tuition in the School of Life" machines. I did get a Singer 27 hand crank during this phase, though. I recently realized I never cleaned it when I got it, because that was before I learned how. So, its in the bath line.Then I was in the furniture GW, and they had a Kenmore 117.XXX for $.99. Yep. 99 cents. How could I pass that by? The cabinet was even pretty and shiny on top. That was my "Learning to Clean and Rewire" machine. It's all spiffed up and oiled and it runs really nicely. I'm rewiring the knee lever that is in the case, but I guess the wiring had cracked insulation, so they cut off the wires and put it on a foot pedal.
This is when things really started picking up, lol. I got a 185K because it was so cute and blue, and a 15 clone because- blue. (They overlapped- I'd already won the clone in an auction, but while it was traveling, I saw the cute one, and, well, you know the rest. I the space of a month, I got most of the machines I have now- the 301, 401, and the treadle. Along with a Necchi BU because it was a Necchi and only $20.00. I should have looked more closely at the wiring, because that's why it was so cheap. More tuition. So, aside from the all or nothing, I think I've succumbed to every temptation on your list.

themadpatter

I think when I retire, I want to go on a road trip, and do the VSM collector's version of Scrooge McDuck rolling around in his money. I want to go from one collection to the next, ooohing and aaaahing. It'll take me a year just to ge through here and the Victorian Sweatshop!

Brass Head

Hmm. It started when my wife inherited her mother's 301. I got it going (oil, fiddling), learned basically how they work, took note of how beautufully and conscientiously made it was, and went on to other things. (I am always doing something.) A year or so later, my wife brought home a battered, half-stuck Featherweight. She found it sitting in a junk store, thought it was adorable (which it was), and plunked it on the table. This time, I basically took it all apart, replaced a few part (the extension was smashed), and put it back together. It ran, and runs, beautifully, When I found Ismac, I discovered it is a 1941 model. We now have a '48 as well in which someone had misinstalled some bobbin parts, then given up on it. It's virtually new.

After that, I started fixing up black Singers right left and center. My wife was a little dismayed at the number of them, particularly when treadlers in full cabinets started showing up. Then I got into Whites, then I found an old vs in a cabinet (a "Queen"): completely redid it, works beautifully. Then my wife asked for a Swedish machine, so I fixed up a few of those. Recently I've been doing those kookie Japanese rigs with the '58 Buick aesthetics. I have such love of their stylistic whimsy and goofy names, and respect how beautifully they are made (nickle-plated underparts, fer cryin' out loud!).

I don't - can't afford as a retired teacher to - buy anything fancy, and I'm not a big shopper, so I just fix whatever pedestrian stuff comes my way. They are all beautiful, prior to 1965 or so. I actually like it when they are a "hard fix." That's where the fun is: bringing something defunct back to useful life. I try to get them all working perfectly, quietly, efficiently. That way, I stand a chance of convincing my wife that it is not an indication of madness when another vagabond shows up, as it inevitably will.

Right now, I'm finishing up a blue-grey Morse 4100, an early foto-matic, and am starting on a cb-n Model 12 Husqvarna. I have my eye on an old handcranker. If you run into my better half, mum's the word.