I was the recipient of most everything my mom made when we were growing up. I was born in 1975. As far back as I can remember she sewed on a 1948 Mocha 301. She got it from her mom, who bought it when she was pregnant with my mother, and made all her baby clothes, etc. My grandmother didn't own any store bought clothing that I ever knew about. She even made her own undergarments. I started performing when I was 4, and literally spent my childhood on the stage. Mom made all my costumes, and I never owned a store bought dress until I was in high school and bought them myself. Mom upgraded to a new plastic Singer in 1985 when she started making costumes for some of the other kids I performed with. She was given a new Bernina 1260 in 1992 from a high school friend living in Switzerland, and she gave me the 1985 Singer. Though I had never really done any sewing myself other than hand stitching/needlework, etc. I asked for it anyway. When I had my first child in 1998 I began getting interested in sewing, quilting mainly, and I started putting that Singer to good use. Mom always made clothing and I did everything BUT clothing so everything I learned was basically self taught. We don't live close enough to get lessons but we talk almost daily so I can always call her with questions...and I do
My step dad bought mom a Viking Designer I in 2002 and she gave me the Bernina, which was a massive upgrade from the crappy Singer, which was being serviced more often than not by that time. I used it to begin my custom sewing business and begin alterations for my husband's unit on base. When he was deployed I got a good deal on a used (though most had never been out of the box) Designer I. I was really wanting to do embroidery so I jumped on it with the extra pay we had, and I had it for 2 years. Due to software issues I never got to use the embroidery aspect of it. Hubby finally caved to my whining and let me buy a brand new Viking Designer Ruby in May, and I've been having a ball with the embroidery aspect. I also picked up a brand new Brother serger at a yard sale for 20.00 so I could play with it and see if I even liked what it could do. It is a nice addition for making custom baby bedding.
We live in the middle of nowhere now, and since I had more room than mom, she let me have the 301 and cabinet, and when we cleaned out my grandmother's house, I also took the 501A in cabinet that she had. Mom told me all the time how she hated sewing with it, and she'd never use it so I could have it. Both are in my studio now, waiting to be cleaned up and brought back to life. I'd wanted a treadle for years just to play around with, and I swear there's something in the air around them, and you become addicted when you get one. For years I could not find one that wasn't outrageously priced, and in the last 6 months they've just fallen to me in one spectacular deal after another, leaving me unable to say no! I figure that if we ever have a meltdown of the power grid, I'll be able to sew forever because I have now acquired so many machines that do not require power! After yesterday's haul and the one that was delivered by FedEx today, I'm at a grand total of 36 machines.
Since getting my first antique, I've become fascinated with learning about the history of these machines, and love seeing a visual display of the industrial revolution, and my kids think its cool that we have such a neat part of American History right in our living room...and dining room...and car port...and studio.... I homeschool my 4 kids, and all but my 3 yr old have sewn on my machines, my oldest making quilts by herself now (she's 13) and my boys (8 and 9) are making pillowcases.
Having the opportunity to rescue so many of these machines that were in a museum at one time made me feel obligated to protect as many as I could, and hopefully keep them from ever being forgotten in a storage building again. My daughter has already laid claim to some of my machines. Fortunately my husband doesn't complain when I do things like leave the house to get groceries and come back with 10 machines and no groceries 2 hours later...which is what I did last night haha!