Malphi: Frills, Frocks & Fancies!

Irresistible Jones

Does anybody else use vintage or non-electric machines?  I'd love to hear.

I saw this old Jones machine on Ebay and just couldn't resist it!  It's a vibrating shuttle...my favourite type!  I'd never seen one with the blue decor and being my favourite colour the combination was just too irresistible!

Trouble is I'm really running out of space for all my machines.   I still use my beloved Vickers for all my work, it's just such a beautiful sturdy machine but it does mean the others tend to get neglected and there have been moments when I've considered saying goodbye to the ones I don't use.  I gave a couple of singers away a few years back and never regretted it but then again, for some reason I don't bond with the old Singers as much...haven't put my finger on it yet.  I hope I don't do anything drastic!

Vintage Jones Sewing Machine...

The was the very first sewing machine I ever used!  A Jones Family CS vibrating shuttle.

It belonged to my grandmother, who passed it down to my Mother and this weekend my younger sister decided to make her patchwork quilt on it.

The machine probably hasn't been used for about fifteen years but these old treasures never let us down.  One quick oil and away it went first time.

A little gem..!

This is a little gem of a machine!
It was tucked away in one of the rooms of the charity sale I go to, along with four or five other vintage sewing machines.  Think they must have once belonged to a collector as they were all beautifully preserved and in pristine condition.

It's quite a bit smaller than my other machines and is a transverse shuttle machine.  With transverse shuttles, the bobbin moves back and forth in a straight line as opposed to the vibrating shuttles that it was superseded by, which move in an arc.  Apparently it had been discovered rusting in someone's old garage but has now found a new home and lease of life!

Once home, I first tried to wind one of the bobbins but noticed that the bobbin winder had been stored with the rubber wheel pressed up against the fly-wheel like it has to be when one is winding.  Over the years, leaving it up in this position had caused the rubber to distort and go hard, that's hardly surprising given it's age!  Fortunately my genius father had an old toy tractor lying around (like you do) and the rubber tyre fitted perfectly over the old one.  I turned the wheel and hey presto...worked a treat!  You can see it in the photo.

It still had the attachments too...

This little Vesta cried out to me and I knew we had to be together!  AND only £5.00...what a bargain!

Singer treadle machine...

I'm more of a hand-crank sort of girl...but even so, to have an old treadle machine in one's possession is a very pleasing situation to be in.  They just look so beautiful.

My mother surprised me with this one.  I really wanted a treadle machine, but for reasons I can't remember, I wasn't able to go to the charity sale that was coming up which at the time, was the best bet of finding one.  My mother went along by herself.  I couldn't believe it when I got back home!

Frister and Rossmann...

This is a super machine!  An early vibrating shuttle I bought on Ebay for an amazing price.

It's so smooth in motion and came with spare bobbins, attachments and instruction books.  All I had to do was fiddle around a bit to get the tension just right again.  I love it I could eat it!

Frister and Rossmann are a German manufacturer and Vickers sewing machines were based on them.

I'm still so at one using my beloved Vickers machine but I'm sure it will understand if I stray a little!

My very favourite machine..!

The first machines that came out were transverse shuttles, they had long bobbins and bobbin cases that looked rather like bullets. The bobbin moved back and forth in a straight line, unlike the round oscillating shuttles we get today. Next came the vibrating shuttles, these looked very similar but moved on a curved axes and were produced up to about the 1930's (in the UK anyway).

I absolutely adore my beloved old Vickers vibrating shuttle sewing machine.  It's British made, dates back to the 1930's and is still going strong today. I picked it up at a charity sale a few years ago...the best £5.00 I've ever spent! I don't mind that a screw is missing from part of the handle, a safety pin holds it together. It only does straight stitch but that's good enough and I make all my wrap dresses and aprons on it.  No matter what fabric I put through, it never lets me down, a proper solid machine!