Need help finding a shuttle, bobbin & needle
 

Look at my little "Unique"; she belonged to my Granny Ray. I have lots of fond memories of listening to and watching my Granny sew on this treadle. My mom found her at my Aunt's house and brought her home because she was outside in the weather and damaged. Her drawers are all gone and her shuttle and bobbins are missing. I have her now and would like to find replacement shuttle and bobbins for her. Her movements are all free but she still needs some cleaning. I have also found some replacement drawers for her. I could find no model or serial numbers on her anywhere to date this machine. She is branded "Unique". I would like to find the shuttle, bobbin and needle so I can sew with her again. Please help!

Hi Dotte,

Your Unique is a Davis model H. You need a used Davis full sized shuttle or Boye 9, measuring 2-1/16". Needles are "Davis Long", Boye 10, FF, or Singer 1x2. You can use MTx190 a round shank needle though the originals have a flat. Bobbins are probably the toughest to locate, if your lucky a few might come with the shuttle. Singer bobbins will work but you'd need a Singer machine to wind on as they are shorter than Davis.

Here's an owners manual close to your Unique. This is from Sear's Burdick and whoever made the manual took pictures from many different Davis models.

http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollect...f/sil10-37.pdf

I get my parts from ebay or perhaps someone from QB family might have spares. Good Luck and Enjoy!

Jon

Here's a pic of Davis Long shuttle, bobbin, and needle:

Jon

Jon, What great info you have provided. I am so excited and will start looking for these items right away. Finding attachments for her was a bit of a problem. I just happened onto some that was being sold at the GW one day. There were lots of attachments in 11 small zip lock bags for $1.00 per bag. I bough all 11 and found several attachments that I could make work on this machine in the lot. Thanks so much for the info. Dotte

Does anyone have any ideas about cleaning up the rust pitting on the slides and feet plate? As you can see in the picture they are both pitted pretty bad. Also the front slide plate is missing.
Dotte

Dotte,

Keep looking on e-bay. I've found a few -- and bought a few -- Jon knows! Congrats on the machine. You're very fortunate that it is not stuck! There are a lot of tutorials on this site on how to clean up sewing machine parts, including the slide plates, hand wheels, etc. As you probably already know, be very careful what you use to clean the head of your machine. The surface with decals can be very delicate and some cleaners will take the decals off, or cause them to silver. I am still a rank amateur when it comes to these machines, but my son was a SM mechanic for 14 years, so I do have a big advantage there!

Jeanette

Jeanette

cleaning: 0000 Steel wool with Brasso metal cleaner is what I would use.

Quick update on my quest to sew on my Granny's treadle again. Thanks to Macybaby, I now have a working shuttle, bobbins and needles. I made a temporary belt using a suggestion I found on this site. I used a length of aquarium hose and it worked great. My little darlin is sewing again. The sound brought back so many memories. I grew up sleeping at my Granny's house each night so she would not be alone. She lived down the street from our home. You guys will never know what your help with this project has done to my heart. I love this quilting board site and I send warm kudos to everyone out there. Now on to the cleanup. I will post before and after pictures when I am done. Thanks again everyone.

I am always happy to hear another old one is being used. I so love mine. Good Luck and keep up informed!

this isn't really a reply to this thread, it is a plea for help! I was given a Vertical Feed treadle sewing machine yesterday and I had never heard of such a thing before. I have been reading all I can find on the internet, but I still have a few questions. I think it is in wonderful shape! it needs a belt to the treadle. The wheel is rusty. But all the parts move very easily and it looks pretty clean. It is in a beautiful cabinet with 4 drawers that lock. It has attachments loose in one drawer, and another box of attachments. The manual is in it, but is in bad shape- fragile with some tears. It only has one bobbin and shuttle and I have no idea what size they are to even look for more. I am very excited to get it cleaned up and use it! Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!