Treadle Abundance

Right now I have five treadle cabinets with machines in all but one. When it rains it pours! It all started late last fall when my neighbor had his mother's Wheeler & Wilson 9 up for sale. I managed to store it in the garage over winter, not a good idea, but it was in pretty rough shape. It is still in rough shape and I'm just not ready to deal with the cabinet problems as well as getting the bobbin to work so it will continue to wait for me.

Wheeler & Wilson #9

Next up was the adorable New Home in a compact parlor cabinet. It's one of those petite 3/4 sized machines but it also had to wait in the garage over winter. I've been working on cleaning it up, the cabinet and the machine, and think it's in pretty good shape. The threading is different with the top tension unit besides being a vibrating shuttle model.  I continue to struggle with setting the boat shuttle in the vibrating swing arm but practice makes perfect.

New Home treadle cabinet

New Home treadle cabinet open

New Home treadle: bobbin winder out for cleaning

 I got the two parlor cabinets without machines and they are now all cleaned up and working as noted in Whiplash. I have enjoyed showing them off, especially after I got the Davis treadle. It was an adventure after winning the local auction and picking it up by myself. It's not a big treadle and I figured since it would come apart into at least three sections and I would be okay to disassemble and haul it. It was easier said than done. The head came out easily but the wood cabinet was not all one piece but at least three pieces with the side drawers coming off first. My screwdriver was too long so that was a struggle and even to find the screws when it was so sunny outside and so dark under that cabinet! With the drawer sections removed I was now ready to take off the top, but not until I removed the large shield held on by three screws on each side. One of the screws just turned and turned so it had to be carefully coaxed out. Now the top could be unscrewed from the irons, held on by only four screws. It all fit into the back of the Jeep and made it home safely. With all of those pieces all over the floor of the garage I wanted to get it back together again but it was not obvious how it would all work. My husband helped me in this part but it was a struggle. Let's just say it is all back together and we are still married. It got cleaned up with Howard's Feed & Wax on the wood with Johnson's paste wax on the irons after a scrubdown. It got posted on Facebook Marketplace with a half dozen people interested and only one needed to show up to pick up.

Davis treadle cabinet

Davis treadle top

It was crazy how many people were interested in this cabinet that was far from perfect and contained no sewing machine. I finally broke down and asked one person why they wanted a treadle and they said it was for their TV. Is that all? No, she learned to sew on a treadle with her grandma and it would bring back fond memories. I said I would keep her in mind if I found another one...cheap.

As a final bit of eye candy, here is the Davis in her new cabinet. She is not only pretty, she runs like a dream. I think it was worth the struggle!

Davis in new cabinet: a real beauty!