Not one for the record books

I marched hopefully off to the auction this morning - there were a couple sewing machines (including a lovely but probably unjustifiable treadle) and a dress form, so i figured there might be some interesting lots. Unhappily, it was one of their more massive auctions, they were planning to have three auctioneers selling simultaneously, which usually means bedlam inside, and the parking lot and the surrounding shoulders of the road were completely clogged.

I made a circuit to see if i'd missed a spot, then decided - there being nowhere safe to park - to run a couple errands and try back a little later to see if things cleared out any. Got some fuel, trolled through a thrift shop i hadn't visited in a while (total thrift shop haul: one mangy paperback to read, a glass chimney that proved not to fit the lamp i intended it for, and a They Might Be Giants CD). No interesting vintage, and nothing that would be useful to wear for the upcoming string of holiday concerts.

Heading back east, the auction house looked no saner, so i gave it a miss and stopped at the farm market (four Stayman apples from the dwindling stores of local fruit - destined for one last apple crisp - and a surprisingly nice-looking batch of green beans).

Oh, well. I'm enjoying the CD. Istanbul was Constantinople...

Going to pieces

The auction listing had the magic words: several sewing machines.

This is a good indicator of the potential for finding patterns.  Many, if not most, estate sales will have a sewing machine, i think because people just felt it was one of those things a woman ought to have in her household.  But a sewing machine may prove to be unloved and unused, gummed up and dusty.  Not necessarily a bad thing, if you're after the machine and can clean it up, but if you're after patterns, you won't find 'em there.

But someone with several sewing machines?  Ah, they're hard-core (or an optimistic hoarder of craft stuff, which can be just as good).  And whether or not you want the machines, you're likely to run across notions and sewing supplies in the box lots.

So after seeing this listing, i hied myself to Boonsboro that afternoon for the auction.  Bit of a hike to get out there, but it's a pretty drive.

There was not a single pattern, alas - this had been a quilter, not a sewer-of-garments.  But amongst the boxes of tacky plastic canvas, fabric i couldn't quite justify, and heaps and heaps of Tupperware i haven't room for, there were a few interesting things.  I missed out on the Gingher pinking shears and the cutting mats and the vintage cookbooks, but i got one batch of boxes, because it included this:

Okay, it's a swell old box, but i didn't buy it for the box, of course.  Inside, there were lots (72, to be exact) of these:

...along with a whole pile of plain muslin squares, presumably intended to be alternated with the pieced squares - it's enough to make a twin quilt top, by my quick-and-dirty estimates.  Many of the fabrics are plainly 1930s, and the quilt squares are all pieced by hand.  (This represents an insane quantity of work: the tiny checkerboard squares, when finished, are hardly bigger than a dime...)

I laid out a few squares, so you can get an idea what it might look like once assembled:

A new toy...

Sewing machines come to live with me.  I'm actually not certain of the exact count at the moment.  I had a machine in college, a fairly stripped down junior-model Singer.  When i worked at G Street Fabrics, i bought my first vintage machine, an old Singer slant with all the attachments.  Others are ones that someone was going to junk, and wouldn't i take it?  I usually do, hoping i can maybe pass it to someone who can use it.  Recently my grandmother was moving, and planned to leave behind the Kenmore machine she bought as a young woman.  Yeah, it's at my house now.

And there are others.

So i hadn't really planned to buy another machine anytime soon.  But at the auction today, there was a lovely old Elgin treadle machine, in its cabinet - in need of cleaning, but relatively intact.  And there wasn't a whole lot of interest among the assembled crowd; a Domestic in a very Art Deco-ish cabinet had just been passed over without a single bid.  And i had a bit of room in the Jeep...

I'm tickled to have a treadle machine join the herd.  The friends i know who have used them have often come to prefer them over electrics, and i'm pretty sure i'll like the control at slow speeds for fussy bits, where i'm always nervous about nudging the pedal a little too hard, and it's also nice to have the off-the-grid option.  Photos to come, but field testing will have to wait for a serious cleaning and oiling, and possibly a new belt...

What do you love to sew on?  Do you prefer a different machine for vintage projects?