Mom bought me a treadle when I was 15. I learned to sew on Her big Singer electric machine. We had a little 4 room house. It had a high pitched roof that we converted into a bedroom once us kids hit the teen years. The lights were run on an extension cord and I was forever getting the big Singer out to sew something. A family friend was cleaning out an old house and found the treadle. Mom bought it for $15. back in 1974. LOL it cost me a lot more to move my "Rose" (named for Grammie, who peiced her last quilt blocks on it) way out here from New Brunswick.