Originally Posted by juneayerza
Hello Everyone,
I am very new to quilting and I'm teaching myself through online tutorials and books. I've seen a lot of you talking about using an old treddle machhine for your quilt tops. I have a treddle which was my late MIL's, but it needs a fair amount of restoration. Before I spend, can you please tell me the advantage of using the treddle and what kind of work you use it for.
Thanks All
June, compared to using, say, your Janome with all the bells and whistles? (just an example) There's no advantage. Not really. Your modern machine is going to be faster, and easier to use than the old treadle machine is. It does more of the work for you.
When you look at the advantages, modern machines have the old ones beat all to the devil....however, you can run your treadle machine when the power goes out! :)
Sewing on an old treadle machine brings on waves of nostalgia and a sense of accomplishment. You do have to work a little harder to make something, finish edges, even just to make the machine run! But they sew beautifully, they sound so cool, and the end result is that you produce something wonderful doing it the way your ancestors did. (I will say that the next time I need a gathered piece that I'll run to my treadle! She has a gathering foot that my Janome doesn't have, and it works wonderfully! )
I vote that you get the machine fixed!! :) Probably won't take nearly as much work as you think it will! ;)