How old is your sewing machine?

DD's first machine, which she still has, was a hand-cranked Frister & Rossman machine dating back to the 1890s.

She saw it in a junk shop when she was 9 and asked for it for Chrustmas, DH having checked it was in working order,we bought it. He cleaned and serviced it and I made a cover for it. We wrote to Frister & Rossman to ask if they still had any operating instructions and to our delight they sent us a photocopy of the very tatty instruction manual they had in their archives.

It is now worth considerable more than we paid for it as it is a decorative machine, but DD has so many happy memories of it, sitting on the floor of her bedroom making dolls clothes and just experimenting that she could not bear to part with it, even though it just lives in a cupboard and is never used now

Tangerine I have also got my grandmother's old Singer. When she was bombed in WW2, the house was blown up and the water mains and gas mains ruptured. My Dad went into the ruins later on and found the machine in its case in quite deep water, and after the war he took it apart (he was clever like that) and repaired the whole thing and reassembled it ..... and I made my wedding dress on it and my curtains when I was 21.

It still works like a dream.

1890's as it belonged to my great grandmother. It still works.

Mine used to be my grandma’s . It was a treadle and I remember making a yellow spotty sundress on it for a school project. About 1956 I think. I had it removed from its treadle in 1965; and it is a manual now. It is at least 100yrs old and a Singer. I haven’t used it for a while. Perhaps now is the ideal time to do so. A bit of oil is all it usually needed.

Had to replace the Jones machine I bought in 1968 when DH dropped it on the ground and it broke. Since then I have had a Janome.

In 1986, when she was 12 we bought DD a machine, called English Home, or similar, anyway Janome under another name, and although she is now a highly skilled needlewoman with other specialist machines bought since then, this is still her most heavily used machine and she wouldn't swap it for another, no matter how computerised.

I have (in a small collection) a wondrous Elna SU with Cam disks that pop in the top to increase the range of fancy stitches. It’s over 40 years old and weighs as much as I do! I have an Elna Lotus for quick jobs, and a modern computerised Janome for free motion quilting so I’ve got everything covered.

My Singer belonged to my mother's mother (my grandmother) and I've no idea how old it is. Over 100 years I'd say because my mother was born in 1905 but I don't know when my Grandmother acquired it.
It still works perfectly apart from needing the tension adjusting from time to time - it seems to slip when I haven't used it for a while.
If this corona thing carries on, do you think out offspring will finally take to sewing as they're now having to learn to bake and cook from scratch?

PS it has the ruffled, quilter and things for inserting lace and the instruction book!

I use my grandmother’s treadle singer. It is in an ornate cupboard and cost £12 10s in 1918. She still had the receipt. I used it only yesterday.

My Frister and Rossman is about 47 years old. Before that I had a hand operated Singer on which I made all the clothes for myself and two daughters until they were of school age. the old one was beautifully engraved and decorated, but would only sew a very short straight stitch, so I reluctantly upgraded to the electric which is still going strong.

It not If ..

My son's machine is ancient, and was used to stitch leather gloves and fur-

Mine is 70- If has lots of mileage- I wish it had an odometer-

Allegretto mine's not quite as new as yours, about two months. I keep eyeing it doubtfully

What is a sewing machine?

Bought my Elna SU in Perth, Western Australia, in 1972. Still going strong, wonderful machines, not computerised, Swiss built. It was the "top of the range" machine then, cost me nearly 4 week's wages!!

I have my mother’s treadle Singer machine possibly bought in the 1940s and an electric Singer bought in USA in 1991.

Mine is only 10 years old, a Janome, bought on recommendation of daughter when my previous machine a 30 year old Singer developed an unrepairable fault.

DD recommended it because 35 years ago we bought her a New Home sewing machine, the brand name Janome originally sold under.

Even though she is now a skilled needle woman with City & Guilds qualifications to prove it, it is her 35 year old New Home (Janome) machine that is always to hand and constantly in use.

Before that she had (still has) a late 19th century Frister and Rossman hand operated machine, which is now 140 years old plus. and still working.

I blew the engine of my Huskvarna (sp?) recently- it was about 45 years old.

I bought a Pfaff 3.2 recently and sold my 16 year old Janome to a friend. Pfaff was secondhand but works beautifully.

My lovely dad came to the sewing shop in Derby and bought mine, 1977

* storynanny* I’ll bet it isn’t , I bought my sewing machine (DH has to carry it even then) then I went next door and got my ears pierced!

Happy days.....

Funny how quite a few of us had them for 21st presents! Bet that’s not first choice for anyone turning 21 these days!

My sewing machine is 2 hours old. I’ve just brought it home from the shop and as soon as I’ve finished this cup of coffee, it’s coming out of the box. I’m very excited!

I have had my Bernina 630 for about 13 years and my overlocker and coverstitch for about 10 years. I don’t plan to upgrade any of them in the near future. I also have a couple of machines hiding in the loft, one of which is over 50 years old.