Wow, two posts in one day! This is the 15-88 treadle that I do most of my sewing on. It was difficult to get a good picture of it in my tiny sewing room, but you get the idea. It was made in 1951 (Singer's Centennial year) in St. Jean, Quebec Canada. It is set up right now for free motion quilting; I just use the generic plastic free motion foot and it works just fine on this machine.
I just found one of these machines on a garage sale. I'm very excited to experiment with it, but need to wait until we get the leather belt replaced. It is a beautiful machine and I love that I will be able to sew even when the electricity is off.
ReplyDeleteHi Jody:
ReplyDeleteThese are great machines to sew on! They are so relaxing to sew with :-). You should be able to get a new leather belt at your local sewing repair shop or they should be able to order one if they don't have them in stock. Have fun!
Well I just landed myself a 15-88 loving it. Leaned to sew on one many years ago. Any helpful hints are greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI love my 15-88 and sew on it almost daily. They are very easy machines to sew on...do you have a manual? HOpefully you are following the comments as I just saw this as we were on vacation, but there is no return reply information. Send me your contact info if you'd like to chat about the 15-88.
ReplyDeleteWow, I can't believe I found another one of these. My mom passed away recently and I've been going through all of her belongings. She has a lot of stuff... at least 20 sewing machines. I found an old treadle table, but alas, there's a machine tucked away in it as well. So make that 21 machines.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I noticed right away it was a Centennial edition. The SN indicated it was a Model 15, but after a lot of searching your post, seems to be the only thing I can find about a Centennial Edition, Treadle, 15-88. Are they rare?
The only thing I know about sewing, is that when my mom was doing it, she did not want to be disturbed. By researching some of her items, I've learned more about sewing in the last few weeks, than I did the entire time I lived at home.
Hi JD: I was going to reply to your comment but you are a 'no reply' blogger, so I'll try and post a comment here and hope you will see it!
ReplyDeleteI don't know where you are located, but we are in southern Ontario, Canada and the model 15's are not rare here. When you went to the Singer shop to buy a machine, you could chose a head and then decide if you wanted it in treadle version, electric or handcrank. In the 1950's, there were still lots of rural areas that didn't have hydro so a treadle was often their choice. We do come across a lot of model 15's in our area and quite a number of them are also Centennial models. It really depends on where you live.
My condolences in the passing away of your Mom. Going through all the stuff can be very hard, but also can be comforting. I lost my Mom 9 years ago and my sister and I found it quite therapeutic to go through my Mom's things and it brought back many happy memories for us as she taught us to sew on an old Singer model 27 treadle. If you have any other questions, just holler.
Oh sorry, I just signed up on this site to post that comment. I'm not sure about the settings yet.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information. I didn't think it would be too rare or valuable, but I enjoy the search and since there isn't much about this particular machine I had to ask.
It has been tough. My mom was a hoarder I guess. I've given away hundreds of pounds of fabric, thread, patterns, equipment etc. I've thrown away just as much, just to make room, and I'm only just beginning. I might just have a big yard sale and have boxes of fat quarters, quilting kits etc for free, just so it goes to use. But if I do that I could hurt local businesses here in northern California by dumping material on the market. :-)
As far as the other 20 sewing machines, I'll try to find good homes for them. I thought about donating them to senior centers, but they're all closed due to the bug. But I'm sure someone can use a Baby-Lock or two.