White Vintage Sewing Machines
 

Is there somewhere one can go to find information on vintage white sewing machines? I have see pictures of a couple - they resemble vintage singers - but can't find info on them. I know that it is relatively easy to find singer machine parts. What about for Whites? I have attached a picture to give you an idea of what I am talking about (in case someone recognizes these machines).

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I have the machine in the first photo. A rotary machine. What exactly are you looking for? If you google White 77 sewing machine, there is quite a bit of info. on the net. I don't know about parts for the machine but what is your machine missing?

I don't have either machine - but saw a few listings, very cheap. I like these vsm's, but to date have researched only Singers - because it is easy to find information on those (as well as replacement parts and the like).

I have a Singer 15-91. Would like to have a treadle someday. Would like to have another machine as back up to my 15-91 - which I have now made my primary sewing machine. I just like the way these machines sew, and the fact that they are built to last and not to be a throw-away.

These White machines looked nice; the 2nd one I can see the belt on it - and I know that belted machines are supposed to be easily convertible to hand-crank or treadle.

I will google White 77. The info provided with that machine - I did google - but didn't come up with much - so I think the wrong info was listed.

Okay, the best info I've found on Whites is here:
Tons of pics, manuals, serial numbers.
And here:
Treadle On with info on Whites, including removing the "head" of the machine and changing out the handwheel to convert to treadle (not as easy as Singer).

I think the Whites are plentiful and fairly easy to work on, but there's not as much info as for Singers. I believe they also made machines that were badged. So, some of the Kenmores, etc. will be White sewing machines. Some of the parts can be more difficult to find, like the "t-shirt" shaped bobbin coverplate, but they can be found.

One other thing to note, if they were electric machines, they were friction drive, so no belt. Converting one of those to treadle looks more difficult than with the Singer machines because of the way the handwheel was made. I'm going to attempt to do this at some point, but I haven't done it before.

Bennett gave you good information about sources. Whites are great machines! They don't fit into Singer cabinets, but the White cabinets are truly outstanding. I have the White Family Rotary electric my grandmother bought in the late '40s for the princely sum of $149! That's equivalent to almost $1500 today. Wonderful machine. I also have some White treadle heads that we picked up for free to play with. They're still on the shelf, but I hope to get to them in the next year or so.

Pam

Thanks for the info Bennett and CanoePam! So many good machines!

Pam, you're right about the cabinets. They made some gorgeous pieces of furniture for those sewing machines.

I have a White Rotary I bought new in 1960.....and I use Singer feet and buttonholer (the one in the green egg).
I was told years ago the White was a spinoff Singer but I can't prove that.
If the top one has a dark gray crinkle finish, it could have been used in WWII like some FWs with the same paint job.

I went to this site and there is a lot of information available at the site www.treadleon.net and they say that the white company was totally seperate and not an off shoot of Singer. I have one of the older whites and hope to have it into a treadle stand sometime soon.