Quiltingboard Forums - Singer Redeye Treadle Reborn just in time for Xmas 2011!

My husband and I spent Dec. 24th crawling on the floor and periodically hanging our heads down the sewing machine head hole in the cabinet but by that night I was pedaling away starting my new project, a red checked quilt top made from red fabrics my mother and I had left from projects over the years. I never treadled before and that is how I found this website! Looking for information on how to set your feet and get things going in the right direction. Thanks everyone! The cabinet is a Singer 1910 model with it's original finish. The original head was a Redeye that was taken out of the cabinet and stored in an outbuilding for 40 years. My hubby got it running like a top....we tried to clean it up but it was bad, bad, bad. He wanted to stick it in my dishwasher! That didn't go over so well then I found him gently brushing it with a paint brush in my sink. I asked what he was putting on it.....tar & bug remover for a car! Don't ever do that. It took the decals off. Back to the cabinet: The spring mechanism that holds up the piece the belt runs thru to the right of the machine was missing. We searched and came across one that was off a 1895 Singer cabinet and it fit. Boy, those are hard to install when you don't really know what you are doing. He said he didn't have the heart to try and stick me with the old machine head in such a beautiful cabinet and went in search of a better Redeye. This one is 1911 and is in fabulous condition. It had a motor on it which we removed and hitched it up with a treadle belt made in the good old USA. My little furry helper is Chloe. Oh, I treadled away for four days and completed my quilt top. I found out muscles you didn't know about get sore if you don't sit at the correct level. I love this machine. Oh, if your wondering about the original head.....a car painter friend of ours took it away and then brought it back two days later with a new black paint job. It's getting a new lease on life with an electric motor for my husband to use.:p [ATTACH=CONFIG]298744[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]298743[/ATTACH]