Do You Have a Favorite Vintage Machine
 

I am curious if you Vintage collectors have a favorite in your collection. I love my 1951 FW, and use her often. I also love my 1948 201. She sews beautifully. My first 301 is a bit dinged up, so I call her 'Ugly Betty' but she sews beautifully. I just got a 'new to me' sleek black longbed 301. She still needs work to get her up and running. I am hoping I will love her just as much as her 301 sister. I am now making a quilt on my 99K, and I don't love her. I was thinking of turning her into a handcrank...but after sewing with her, I don't think it's worth the effort. I'm curious as to which of your machine(s) are your favorites. Also, should I give my 99K another chance? Do you love yours??? Happy Stitchin'

Oh man, that's such a hard question, Yamaha Mama! That's like asking which child you like best. I love all of mine, which is why I have them. Well, OK, most of them, at any rate. And the task at hand matters too.

Just to look at, I prefer my 66K hand crank with the Lotus decals. It is so charming and reminds me of saner times.

For FMQ, my Singer 15-91 is the Queen. She reigns over her domain from a lovely Art Deco desk.

For quiet sewing and superb stitches, my 201-2 can't be beat. It reminds me of the one I learned to sew on many years ago.

For beautiful stitches and a few decorative ones, my Bernina 830 Record is always reliable.

And who could resist the red (!) Viking 6570? It never fails me when I need it, and those deco stitches are so pretty. This sweet machine was my first vintage SM.

Well, you see what I mean. Very hard to choose. Very hard. And I haven't even gotten to the portables!

PS Don't give up on your 99K -- they, too, are great little workhorses.

I love piecing on my FW's and 301s they are so smooth and work such a nice stitch.....but for sheer fun, I love sewing on my 99 hand crank! I have mostly Singers and a couple of clones.....my 201 is the heavy duty one I go to. I love them all----

I thought I would chime in here. My favorite, my 201 hand's down. I feel like I am cheating on her when I use anything else. My treadle has been getting quite a workout lately. Then my 99k.

My 201 was the only thing in my sewing area in my room forever but my treadle has been being used so much I decided she had to go up, so I put up shelves and brought the 99k and the 101 with her. I took the coffin top off the treadle, got the 201 up out of her cabinet and let them all sit and see each other. The embarrassing part was my husband walking in when I was telling all 4 of them I love them equally and have no favorites, but I do and she is the 201. He just stared shook his head and walked back out of the room.

I keep the German Singer's downstairs because they don't speak the same language and I don't want them to get testy with too much competition. They really are an extension of my family. I don't have 6 children I have 16. I talk to them all the time, especially when they get moody and I am in a hurry to get things done. The family is almost done expanding I want a 222 and then I think I will never buy another sewing machine. Well I say that now!

No, I haven't got one favourite, I've got several favourites, but I've got a few unfavourites too.

1927 99K hand machine for appliqué and binding.

Frister and Rossmann Transverse Shuttle hand machine for piecing.

Serata treadle for piecing.

Singer 15K treadle for free motion quilting.

I won't name the unfavourites. They are already in enough disgrace.

I've always heard you're not supposed to take sides in your children, soooooooooLove them all the same, each for their own talents.

My favorite is my one and only Vintage machine...so far ...it's my Singer 99.

Hands down it would have to be my Singer 66. I have a 99, 2 Singer 237(?) made in Great Britain) and a Singer 600 with cams. The Singer 600 has to be worked on. I'm hoping to turn my nieces into quilters. Right now they don't have time, as they are college kids, but they don't know what I have in store for them.

My favorite machine is my 66-1 that belong to my Grandma. It never gives me problems. the stitch is always even and perfect.
Skip

Favorite vintage machine would be my FW for piecing, all around sewing would be my Pfaff 1222....or is that not old enough to be vintage. I don't know where "vintage" starts, someone just told me that "antique" starts at 100 years old.

My 503 Rocketeer with knee bar in a cabinet is my favorite. I also love the Compac 15 clone (turquoise). I wish it were in a cabinet also.

Darren

I love all my machines but my go to machine is always my 301a, she just is the best stitcher, in my opinion. I do really like my 99K though, so don't give up on yours. I love the way she purrs when I sew on her. I also like my 15-91 because she was my mom's machine. I like my 185J because she is green and cute.

Very easy question for me to answer, my 15-91. It's the only vintage machine I own.

I guess I am fickle ;) because I keep switching between machines depending on which machine I'm using at the moment. I REALLY love my Japanese clones, though!

My go-to machine seems to be my 201, but I love Betty Lou, the 401a. The sweet little featherweight likes to travel with me, and when I sew on Grandma's Morse I feel close to her. I think as soon as my bobbin case arrives from Sew Classic, the new girl in the family, the 15-91 is going to get a workout! The 66 hangs out on a shelf because her lotus decals are sooooooo pretty. I guess I don't have a favorite after all!

I have a favorite genre of vintage machine, the Singer 66 series. I have 8 of them. But when I sit down to sew I use which ever vintage machine will do what I want done the best.

Joe

So far I like my 301, "Thelma", the best of all. Her stitches are so even, and easy. I have FMQed on my 15-91, and like her best for those kinds of things. She seems the enjoy the challenge of thick seams to sew through. My 252 is good with simple projects and zigzags. She's in the Living Room in a new-to-me parlor cabinet. I'm still working out the kinks of sewing on a treadle, my treadling isn't great yet, or my 66 Red Eye would be the tops. Of course there is the other 66 Red eye that I need to finish cleaning --- and a 357, a 128-23 hand crank, a 353 Genie, a New Home 70's model, a Wards 60's model, and still others. I try to sew on them in a rotation, but I seem to like the 301 set up , so she gets first chance at any project.
So, really I guess I don't like to have a favorite afterall.

My favorite machine is my black 1950 Singer Featherweight. It sews beautifully and is in near perfect condition.

I love my grandmother's 1907 Singer model 28 treadle. It sews like a dream and every time I hear it click-clacking along, I'm back in my grandmother's lap, learning to sew and piece quilts. I also like my turquoise Morse for FMQ. It's feed dogs drop by mashing a button and it reminds me of a 57 Chevy. I also like my old Kenmores (made by Janome) and a couple of 60s Singers. I try to treat them all equally so their feelings don't get hurt. I felt sort of guilty today when I was appliqueing some quilt blocks on my Janome 10001!

It's so great to read how well loved our machines are!!! And how much fun we have with them. Thanks all for sharing!! I have enjoyed reading your stories, and look forward to hearing about more of our beloved machines!!

My DH and I are so in love with the vintage/antique machines that my DH purchased sooooooo many that we had to put some of them in a different building (but they are protected). The one that I sew on all the time is my 1951 Singer Featherweight. I do FMQ on smaller projects on it also. I also love my 1903 Singer model 27 treadle. The cabinet is beautiful. Although I haven't been able to sew on it yet, I guess my very favorite machine would have to be my 1852 Grover and Baker Treadle machine. It is so unique. DH is working on the machine to refurbish it. The cabinet is made of Walnut and is a coffin lid cabinet. I can't wait. Just have to mention our 1890 Singer salesman machine. This is a hand crank miniature cast iron machine that the salesmen took to the farm houses to show how a sewing machine worked. It is different than a child's machine.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]366481[/ATTACH] It is probably about 10" long and about 9 to 10" high.

I have to agree with the others on the board. It is like trying to chose which child you like best.

Without doing a whole heckuva lot of checking, I have a White Model 77MG approximately 65 years old, which my husband bought for me for our first anniversary 51 years ago. It has been cleaned once, (professionally) (and me quite often), it had a new rubber put around the bobbin winder - actually it isn't new, the sewing machine man turned it around so the inside was on the outside and it works like new. (That was when he cleaned it and didn't charge me - said I would have trouble finding a new rubber band.) I did get a new Singer Precision (brand new) three years ago, which works fine, except there is something nice and quiet about an all steel (except for the rubber on the bobbin winder) that says something to you. Like "I'm here for the long haul.....pull me out when the plastic doesn't work!" And I have!!!!! Sort of like seeing a long lost friend! Other than that it has never once failed me. I have all the accessories for it - even a shirrer......which I don't even think I would be able to work it if I tried....most I have never even tried. It even has a thing that you put on the back of the machine that holds the quilt down when you are quilting. One good machine!!!!! Edie

well in all honesty the only ones of my vintage machines I have actually sewn on is my 301, FW, and my oldest treadle, the 1873 Domestic. The others are in my studio waiting on it to be done and cleared out so they can be put into useful places instead of huddled in a mass in one corner. Maybe I'm a traitor to admit it but right now nearly 100% of my sewing is done on my new Viking Ruby because its set up temporarily in the corner of my bedroom. I still resort to my Bernina 1260 for uniforms though because I have the easiest time doing FM with it- a handy trait when sewing on all those weird shaped military patches and ranks.

I haven't seen real many with all metal parts I don't like. The older machines are just so well made - what's not to love.

My favorites are: Singer 15-91, Singer 201, Singer featherweight, Singer Red Eye (model 66). A close second goes to my late 70s Kenmore, which I bought new, a 1902 Singer 27 treadle, and a 1957 mauve/pink Kenmore 158.351. All of my machines are in good working order, with the exception of a 1930s Singer 101 and an age unknown White Rotary which started life as a treadle and was later electrified.