iadhikari

Hi everyone,
I'm wondering, just for fun, who names their machine and why (same goes for those who don't). I am getting a little tired of referring to my machines as "my Kenmore 17741" or "my tan Singer 301." But I can't get used to calling them by human names.
So I thought it would be fun to find out what everyone else does, and why!
Ila

quiltingcandy

The only machine I have successfully named is my treadle. It belonged to my Great Aunt Mae. I never met Aunt Mae but when I use her machine I talk to her. And some times I call my Singer 15-91 that my mother gave me and it is the machine I learned to sew on I call it "Old Friend". My little Europro travels with me more than my FW's, so I call it my traveling buddy. My Viking, Janome, and 2 FW's nothing seems to stick. So they go by their given names.

franc36

I named my Featherweight Quiltie because I use it for all the piecing of my quilts. My Bernina is not named. I use Quiltie ​much more than the Bernina. I love that little machine!

Sunflowerzz

I name them all, sometimes the names are chosen the minute I find them because of the situation they were in, sometimes after I sew on them. I named my beautiful VS2 1888 fiddlebase Shasta because I purchased
her in Shasta county in clear view of beautiful Mount Shasta and she was covered in daisies, maybe Shasta daisies.?

I named another Chanel because she was white and black.
Pfaff 131 is Belle
My FW is Gwyn ( Gwyndolyn )
Green Riccar is Esmeralda
Singer 99 is Petunia Soooo cute!
Spiegel Vogue is Lei Lani

and so on and so forth. Around 40 of them.

I have folders made up for every machine with all of the info about them and manuals. Date repaired, repairs made and if I want keep them in my little collection or if they will be rehomed. I also keep in the folder any test swatches I made with that machine so I have it readily available for anyone that wants to see her stitches.

I have had only one machine that wanted a mans name so far...made in Ireland and it sounded like a tommy gun when I sewed with it. Was going to name it Tommy G. but after careful inspection it was named "parts machine". I have a quite a few with that particular name.




These vintage machines can be a lot of work and exasperations so I make it more fun with the naming.

Macybaby

so far DH and I only have one machine that is named - he calls his Pfaff 130 Brunhilde, because she's such a heavy, stout girl.

I'm not into naming things much, maybe I will when I get them staged = give them all a plaque with a name and mfg info. Might be fun to do.

I figure even if I gave them names I'd still have to refer to them by make/model as no one else is going to know what I'm talking about if I called them by name.

J Miller

I can't think of names. When I started forums I couldn't think up a fancy nick name so I just went with my J Miller.

When I end up naming a sewing machine it's because the machine or something about it brings a name to mind.
Like my Minnesota Mdl B, as I was working and cleaning her up the name Minerva came to mind. It stuck, that's her name.
My White DRESSMASTER was once owned by someone name Louise Stanley. So her name was from then on, Louise.
A lady we bought a sewing machine cabinet from gave us a tip on a Singer 66 at Habitat For Humanity. Turned out it was an unmolested 66-1 still with it's back clamp presser foot shaft. The lady who directed us to her was named Jean, so that machine is Jean.
My New Home Model AB had a mouse nest in it. So we named it Mini in honor of Mini Mouse.

That's kind of how my machines get named.

I have other machines that mean a great deal to me, like my mom's old HOTHER clone or the 66 treadle that my cousin gave me that don't have a name. It's not because I don't want to, it's just that nothing has come to mind that's stuck.

Joe

Candace

No names here.

ThayerRags

Naming machines helps us (my wife and I). When I start talking model numbers with her, she often can’t follow me. We have so many, and since I’m the “collector” and she’s the “user” for many of them, she doesn’t really connect with the model number of many of the machines that I get ready for her to give a test-drive. She’s in the “if it doesn’t do something for me that I need, I have absolutely no use for it” camp.

Then to add to that, we have multiples of some models that she uses on a daily basis, and when we use the model number to describe a machine, it could be two or more machines. So, we give them names (we call them “nicknames”) so that we can differentiate between two or more machines of the same model.

Nicknames are good. You can name them to indicate who they came from, where you got them, or how you feel about them.....

CD in Oklahoma

ThayerRags

I should add...

Don’t knock yourself out trying to come up with a Nickname for a machine. If it doesn’t come freely, don’t worry about it. We have a Singer 301A that was mine, and then I let the wife try it out, and it became her “go to” machine in her home sewing station, but we’ve never given it a name. We simply haven’t come up with a suitable name for it yet. I suggested that we named it “stolen” since she took it away from me, but I got “that look” in return. Maybe we need to name it “Looky”.....? (probably not)

CD in Oklahoma

zozee

I have 3 machines. The first one I owned is a Kenmore. I named him Kenny. (Not very original, huh?) He's more muscular than my others--will essentially "mow down" anything--what a boyish mindset! He's not complicated. Also very guy-ish.

The second one I got is a Janome DC 1050 named Kelly. I got her last summer when 3 Kelly-related things happened:
-my dear friend Kelly, in Colorado, witnessed the burning of her entire neighborhood in the Black Forest . Only her house remained, and she has no clue why. All her animals survived, too.
-another good friend named Kelly, moved away. She is an avid seamstress and came to my rescue with many sewing fixes when I got stuck.
-I met a Kelly last year whose hope understand very difficult circumstances is quite inspiring.

The third machine is my Singer 15-91. I call her Kathryn or Kate, my grandmother's name, because that grandmother sewed many, many items of necessity and comfort. She even made me a baby doll bed and I feel close to her in spirit when I'm sewing. That machine doesn't work (yet) but I'm determined.

So they all have names that start with K, not on purpose, but the next machine will now HAVE to start with K in order to fit in !