Ma & Pa Kettle Treadle
 

While I’ve been putzin around this afternoon on a couple of treadle machines, my wife has been setting at her Singer 301A mounted in her Singer 430 “Profile Three-Way Sewing Desk” FMQing her latest Baseball All-stars quilt for our grandson. She has a DVD movie playing (mostly for noise) and she happened to notice a scene in the 1947 black & white movie, The Egg and I, where Fred McMurray and Claudette Colbert arrive at their new (old, run down) farm to raise chickens. He’s showing her around in the farm house, and there’s what looks like a Singer 12 or 13 treadle setting just inside of the doorway, covered with a thick layer of dust.

I don’t know if it shows up in the rest of the movie or not. My wife hasn’t gotten to the end of the movie yet. She had to replay the sewing machine scene for me so many times that it set her back both on quilting and movie watching/listening. (Sorry)

CD in Oklahoma

We should have a thread for machines seen in movies and on TV. There is a car commercial airing now where a woman sews a giant red bow with a treadle machine. I paused the commercial but still can't identify the machine except I think it's not a Singer. There is a space-bag commercial (the bags that you vacuum the air out of to save space) with an Elna grasshopper in the background. I'd like to know what machine Diane Keaton is sewing on in Godfather part II.

Edit: I gotta look for the Egg and I!

I just saw that car commercial last night and notice the machine too. She was treadling in high heels! Yikes! No bare feet were harmed in the making of that commercial for sure. I don't think I use to notice treadles on TV before joining this board. I have the book The Egg and I. Wonder if they refer to the machine in that or maybe it's just in the movie as a prop?

PS: By the way CD, I love your backyard treadle garden! What a great idea!

American Express also has a commercial for their "dreamers" line that features a sewing machine. No logos but it's vintage shaped black.

Here's the link to the car commercial treadle. Scroll down to the ad entitled "Precision". It might be a Singer, I can't tell:
http://www.multivu.com/mnr/64378-lex...gn-holiday-ads

The green elna (is it a grasshopper?) is at about 1:05 in this ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOxxspeHyNA

Looks like an Elna Supermatic. Now I guess I will have to start paying attention to commercials. Dag Nabbit!

There's some other Christmas commercial with a treadle, Santa is using it I believe.

Watching Dr. Who on Netflix yesterday with my DD and in one episode a lady was sewing with a hand crank machine. No logos or stencils on the machine though... Probably a Jones??

There's a scene in "Alice" where Johnny Depp, as The Mad Hatter, is sewing a hat on a handcrank.

There's a video of a gal (name escapes me) showing how to use a treadle and she has heels on also. Love when we catch a glimpse of the vintage machines in the different commercials. Has to be someone in the marketing division of these advertising firms who know quilters/seamstresses.