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]

Wow, she'a a beauty. I am starting to clean up one and I hope it comes out half that gorgeous.

Love her, enjoy her.

Beautiful! Gives me a push to get my older machine refurbished! Enjoy!

That really is beautiful.......I am working on a 102 year old New Home treadle. It was in really bad shape ----and so far all I have done is clean clean clean.....hooe it comes out half as pretty as yours.

oh my, she is gorgeous! ....Chloe that is! :-) We love our kittehs!

That has to be the most beautiful Red Eye + cabinet I have ever seen, they are not common here, the Sphinx being much more available...so a Red Eye is still on my list of "wants".
You deserve to enjoy every minute with her!

Joann

What a beautiful machine and cabinet! Congratulations!!

it is so very beautiful!

Gorgeous machine!

Wow. Beautiful! I really need to get to work on mine now.

All I can say is WOW! To think that I gave away a machine and cabinet just like that a couple months ago, the decals were not near as nice though. Oh well, it is being used on a regular basis now and would not have been used here at all with the other machines I have. Fantastic job on the cabinet.

Gorgeous!! Chloe is so pretty, too. I had a cat that was the same color and her name was Veronica.

Are you saying that you didn't do anything to the cabinet to make it look like that? I have a cabinet just like that but it's dark and dull looking.

ETA: Just in case you haven't run across Treadle Lady's web site I'm posting it here:

http://treadlelady.com/

She has some informative and cute YouTube videos about her machines and how to use them.

No, we just used Rustic Touch a Melaluca product on the cabinet and washed the metal off with a damp cloth. Lots of dirt came off. The people we bought the cabinet from took good care of it. They had moved to a smaller house and we purchased it out of their garage sale. It had been sitting in the garage for a couple of years. Chloe, my kitty, is from out in our barn. She loves to be involved in everything and loves to be rocked. [ATTACH=CONFIG]298835[/ATTACH]

No, we just used Rustic Touch a Melaluca product on the cabinet and washed the metal off with a damp cloth. Lots of dirt came off. The people we bought the cabinet from took good care of it. They had moved to a smaller house and we purchased it out of their garage sale. It had been sitting in the garage for a couple of years. Chloe, my kitty, is from out in our barn. She loves to be involved in everything and loves to be rocked. [ATTACH=CONFIG]298835[/ATTACH]

Here is another picture of Chloe beating up on Mother Goose. You can see more of her coloring here.[ATTACH=CONFIG]298836[/ATTACH]

Beautiful machine and cabinet! Love your cat and quilt too! I only clean my sewing machines with sewing oil since it doesn't remove or silver the decals. It takes a bit of time to clean the machine this way, but the dirt and old oil come off.

She's BEAUTIFUL! Someday......I sure would love to have a treadle!!!

Oh my gosh! That is a beautiful machine and cabinet! It looks as if it was just delivered new. I hope you have loads of fun sewing on her.

Pat

Gorgeous cabinet!!! I've got an old redeye too but haven't go around to working on the cabinet yet and it's not a fancy one like you have. Have fun treadling away.

Beautiful machine, and a big project for your first time treadling. I got my first treadle this summer (also a Red Eye), and just did a strip lap quilt top. I didn't want anything that took a lot of starting and stopping. :)

very pretty thanks for sharing

oh my goodness she is beautiful. I am turning so green.....Have fun with her.

That is one beautiful machine. Chloe is the cutest little friend. Thanks for sharing.

Wow, that machine is a beauty. Glad you are treadling. Enjoy!

HiDesertQuilter: Your redeye is absolutely gorgeous !! I am trying to clean up my 1918 redeye treadle. Mind telling me what you used to clean the silver (stainless steel ?) and chrome ? My DH and I stripped the metal stand, painted it and it now looks brand new. I'm really pleased with it. Haven't put on a new belt yet , that will come after the cleaning is done. Also your cabinet is really great, wish mine looked as good. Istill consider myself lucky as I have been waiting a long time for a treadle. The redeye is a bonus.

I've had good luck using Maas polish. I read about it on this blog: http://vssmb.blogspot.com/search/label/polish
It has a pleasant odor rather than a strong chemical smell.

Chloe is really a beauty !! You're lucky she lets you live with her. he he he

We have a dremel and in it we found a little container that says Polishing Compound on it and it worked. Then went over it with Mothers.

So beautiful!!!

Beautiful Cabinet, I have a Red Eye too, they are beautiful machines. Very nice setup.

A very nice cabinet and red eye singer. Lovely quilt and helper. Enjoy the treadling. For me it came with practice. My hardest thing is to get it going forward instead of backwards. But seems like there is a sweet spot you can stop the pedal so it starts in the right direction as well as a little turn of the balance wheel toward you when you start.

I have a Red Eye. My father bought it for me at an auction sale about 50 years ago. I learned to sew on it--dresses and Barbie clothes. It has always been inside but now the presser foot won't move up and down and the needle won't go up and down. It looks like it is bound up somewhere. Where would I find out what needs oiled, cleaned, etc? I sure would like to make a quilt with it. Thanks for any help you can give me.

First remove the needle plate and the slide plate. Remove the bobbin carrier if it's one that comes out easily. CLEAN all the lint and debris out of that area. Clean it sanitary then oil it good. Lint and debris in this area can and will jam a machine up tight.
Pull the face plate off and clean that area too. Then oil EVERYTHING. Lint, debris, thread wrapped around the moving parts, and old solidified oil will stop up the machine.
From there move to the right putting oil in every hole you see. Don't spare it, the machines froze up so it needs it.
As you are pouring the oil in keep trying to move the hand wheel.
When you get to the hand wheel, remove it. Take the tiny screw out of the big knob in the center of the wheel, then unscrew the knob and remove it. Make a reference mark where the screw was when the knob is tight, and once the knob is off memorize the position of the clutch washer.
Once the hand wheel is off, clean the shaft and inside of the wheel thoroughly. The oil in there will gum up.
Then oil it really good and put it back together.
Flip the machine back on it's hinges and clean everything you see. Especially the area around the bobbin drive.
Then oil everything that moves or looks like it should move.

That is how you do it.

Go to Singer and download an owners manual if you don't have one, and by all means use sewing machine oil only to lube it with. You can use kerosene to free it up if you want, but a good cleaning and oil bath should do it.


Joe

Thank you, Joe. For the cleaning/oiling advice and also the owners manual advice.

margaret,

Up until about 7 months ago I thought sewing machines were some sort of black a magic, voodoo, machine. Then I actually opened one up ( my first 66-4 treadle machine ) and found out they are about as simple a machine as a human can design. They have their quirks, but basically they can only work one way. (Well the old ones any way.) About the only things I can think of that will stop them up is rust, gummed up oil and grease, lint and debris, and operator miss-assembly. Wear won't usually stop them, it just makes them noisy and throws the adjustments out. That's where the oil and grease comes in :D .

Joe

Very nice!! Love how the cabinet came out.

I use Bar Keeper's Friend to clean the metal parts on the machines. It comes in a can like Bon Ami or Comet, and it cleans those metal bits like magic!! It is meant to be used on chrome and stainless, so it is very gentle but really takes the old oil and grime off.

did you replace the decals??? if so,where do you find them ???
yours is beautiful....I'm going to look at a red eye tomorrow a.m. I have a 1923 Lotus.I don't need these machine...It's an addiction !!!!!