Ok, so my friend Scott gives me a call on Saturday afternoon. He says his mom was cruising the pennysaver newspaper and saw this ad "Old 1800's Singer Treadle, needs work, $45"

I had just gotten back from a 6 hour drive to go adopt a 2nd Husky (Nala is soo cool), so I said to him "It sounds cool, but since most of these turn out to be 1920-1940's machines that folks just think are old and I am feeling too lazy to drive another hour each way down to the southbay, I'll pass."

Scott decides he needs an excuse to visit so he says "OK, If you would like the machine, I'll buy it, pick it up, drive up to your place, and you can pay me when I get there". I said fine.

I just posted a set of pictures in an album on my profile
http://www.quiltingboard.com/members...bums18122.html

It turns out that it was an 89 year old Lady who was selling her old machine that she got from her mom. It is a Fiddlebase 1879 New Family (Model 12) A transverse shuttle machine. The drawers were rebuild about 20 years ago by a good friend who "used the wrong wood for the faces, but did such a pretty job.." She used this machine until about 20 years ago, when she stopped sewing. She is now downsizing to a smaller place and needed a new home for her machine.

The "needs work" is that the screw that holds the bobbin winder and front portion of the belt guard was snapped off in the the base. It'll take some careful work, but this will be fixed soon.

I had to read up on how to thread the shuttle (A series of holes in a row that you feed the thread back and forth through as many as you need to for the correct tension) but it sews just fine.

We are now starting to finalize the clothing patterns for our Victorian demo and we can begin sewing them on this machine. The goal is to demonstrate that "these Victorian clothes were made on these Victorian machines".

Hey Steve- I just got one of these, hand crank. As soon as it is presentable I will post some pix. I don't see a bobbin winder on yours----

the picture with the drawer open shows the bobbin winder on the table. with the screw busted it cannot be mounted now.

Steve, here is a picture of Hubby's machine. He thought you might like to see it incase you didn't quite know how the bobbin winder is mounted. Also he says we have a winter tire and need a summer tire if you know a source of getting one. BTW your machine is really nice and we are looking for a cabinet to put ours in. It is a hand crank.

SteveH,
I don't think I've ever seen a belt wheel as small as the one that your Model 12 has.
Sharon

Steve,

Remember the belt guard on my workbench???????????? Want it????????????? It's yours!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cathy

I have a 12 in similar shape, it sews beautifully and I plan to restore it with minimal hand painted decor.

Woo Hoo!! Thank you thank you! Any chance you have the long screw too? That is what I need most.

Nice, mine shows the "tracks" of where the decals were, the belt guard has a lot more left. I don't think i wil be painting this one. not sure. It would be a great candidate for the dye and shellac process since the black is gone all around the edge.

She sews and is an original cabinet, that's enough for me for now.

Actually the cabinet is the real issue with this singer, BLACK rings all over it (was a plant stand for 20 years...grrr)

Nope. No comment on that one.
~Grant~