This Singer is so special to me
 

My Grandmother taught me to sew on her sewing machine when I was a little girl. Whenever my mom took me to visit my grandmother I would end up playing on her sewing machine. When she passed away when I was about 12 yrs old, my mother asked me if I wanted her sewing machine. I was very sad to have lost my grandmother, but she taught me to sew on her machine and yes I wanted to have her machine. So we took the machine home and my mom put it in our basement and it sat there until I got married. Then I became a mom to a beautiful baby girl.....well I need my sewing machine now because I wanted to make my baby everything under the sun, so hubby brought it home to me and I sewed on that machine continuously even after 2 more baby girls arrived and until they entered school. A neighbor felt bad for me and offered me an electric old "White" sewing machine, she felt I needed a more modern machine so I wouldn't have to work so hard. I did take the neighbors machine, but never fell out of love for my grandmothers machine. It sits to this day in my foyer and I can look at it everyday and remember the fun I had with my first machine.

It is a Singer 27 SN# B992314. It has the puzzle box full of attachments. Here are a couple of pictures....the red drawer handles have always been there, but I don't think they are original to the machine.

What can you tell me about my machine?[ATTACH=CONFIG]471767[/ATTACH]What can you tell me about my old machine, it does sew beautifully

I can tell you it is awesome and I wouldn't use an electric in it's place!!!

I have the treadle machine that belonged to my great, great Aunt Mae. I never knew her - she died when my mother was a little girl and even though I learned to sew at the age of 8, I was never allowed to "play" with either of the treadles at my grandmother's house. Looking back, I think they were wrong in not teaching me to use them. It would have been a bond between the years. My mother did give me her machine, the 1950 Singer 15-91 that I did learn to sew on, but what a treat it would have been to that memory.

You are so fortunate to have the machine and the memories. I love using my treadle, I don't open it that often but enjoy it when I do.

Such wonderful memories Brandee's mom! Very nice machine and cabinet. And....someone in your grandmas life had a bit of flare! Replacing the original knobs with the red handles. Maybe grandpa did that as grandma got older and her arthritis made it hard to grasp those little knobs. :)

I can can tell you....yeah! You still have the front slide plate! :D They are so often missing. Of course others on this list can tell you volumes more than I can, but it is a full size Singer with the Vibrating Shuttle (VS). The bobbin looks like a bullet....do you still have it? Do you oil your machine and treadle it occasionally to keep her limber?

i understand completely what you are saying.....but I love the 15-91's too. ;)

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*** Never let her go - she is beautiful.
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brandeesmom,

I can tell you that it is lonely and wants you to sew with it.


Wonderful machine.

I know where my great grandmothers machine is, but getting it would be nigh on impossible

Joe

Please make sure that you put a written copy of this story in one o the drawers with some names and dates. This
way as the machine gets passed on down through the generations the real history of it gets passed down too. Between the age of six and ten my grandmother would talk to me for hours about her life and family in Poland. Turns out that in a family of nine I was the only one interested. Now I would kill o have a written copy of that info.

Very nice! Looks like your machine is in the right place. The handles look like bakelite handles that were popular in the 30s or 40s, much newer than the machine. In your case, given the history I wouldn't change a thing. Someone put them on there for your grandmother, maybe by then her hands were getting a little stiff.
Rodney

Nothing anyone else hasn't said. I have one just like it (although it's the fiddle base VS2) and they're absolutely beautiful to look at and very satisfying to sew on. The puzzle box and coffin lid suggest it's from the 1890s. Those decals are particularly beautiful.
A positive consequence of using an electric instead of your 27 is that you didn't rub the decals off on the bed.

Original handles look like this:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]471803[/ATTACH]
Remember to oil the shuttle path and the treadle mechanism when you're servicing your lovely heirloom. The puzzle box is just the icing: Really nice to see.