"Mom, you know there is a machine like that in the attic?"
 

So said the sons when they saw my new White FR treadle.
"Oh, Really? I don't think so."

Their insistance was too hard to resist so I ventured a climb up a ladder, hoisted myself up, and took a look. Oh my! There is indeed a White FR, very similar but an electric model. No belt, instead a contact wheel. The decals are rather plain but beautiful condition; not as many, either. In the poor lighting cannot tell if machine is just grimy or rusty. The instruction manual is with it; think says '49' on it. What a surprise.

Did you get it down? I would have or have your sons get it down for you.

Not yet. I tried taking some pictures but the lighting was bad. It turns out fifteen years ago when we moved a neighbor last minute gave the machine to my daughter. She is not interested in it, as she wasn't then either (teen). Now that I think on it, I remember it being in better shape so the environment probably hasn't been good for it. Neither daughter or I understood at the time how wonderful the gift was as we were not yet exposed to vintage and had a total lack of understanding. I hope to get it down but not until I can dive into cleaning it. And....right now I am having too much fun on the one acquired. I am amazed how advanced the treadle actually is compared to the electric modern ones (except for the many stitches). Everything is better -- the tension controller is engineered to be used over and over for 100+ years! The ease of threading. No tension wire to get caught and pulled when someone lays their shirt over the machine. The lightness/ease of starting and stopping. Everything is much more advanced than today's mechanical machines. I have always dreaded winding bobbins, no matter the machine. Well, let me tell you, on this thing it is a joy; I wound ten at one sitting just for "therapy"! Anyways, in a couple of weeks I am thing of attacking this forgotten machine. Who knows, maybe I will swap it out with the one I have --- nah, probably not as we have gotten to be real buddies, even if she is missing some of her bling (decals).

Leave it up to the kids. They know where EVERYTHING is. At least mine did. Know why? They have been up there when you didn't know it, maybe. LOL

Yep, while up there I saw a big hole in the cardboard and insulation going into another part of the house or something. When I inquired found out when the boys were younger they had made an escape passage from their room through all the attics. (old house with several add-ons). Duh, no wonder there was a noticable change for the worse in the drafts upstairs several years ago! Mystery solved.

Ok I see how the machine got up there. I love how the boys found a way in the attic and made it into a big fort for themselves.
Rodney

After mine was found, we realized that was probably what our Mom was trying to tell us.

About 6 months before she passed, when I was visiting, I got to talking to my sisters about sewing, and none of us could remember what Mom's zigzag machine was. So we asked her what her first sewing machine was - and she managed to articulate enough to say "whi - whi " and she shook her head yes when I said "White?" and then she said continued and said "upstairs" but we couldn't figure out what she may have meant. After we had all moved out, she did move her sewing to an upstairs room, but by then she had traded in her White 670 for a Viking. She got confused easily, so we assumed she was just saying that her sewing stuff was "upstairs" .

After finding the machine, we figured maybe she was trying to tell us that her "first" machine was a White, and was up in the attic. Since the 670 came out years after she was married, it wouldn't have been her "first" machine.

Love attic treasures

Your story brought tears to my eyes.

Hope you rescued it from the attic..