Of Long Arms and Treadles

I know, I know, I've been gone too long again and how can one get a following when they're so inconsistent, right?  Well, it is what it is and for now it has to be that way.  As much as I'd love a bigger following, I'm afraid right now I'd be disappointing way too many so I'll just enjoy reading the blogs of others for now and update when I can take the time to get to it and hope that those who do follow, or read even without following, enjoy when I DO post.

This morning I got up in time to watch Fons & Porter on a near-local PBS station.  I didn't catch who the guest was that was demonstrating long-arm quilting.  It was very interesting though.  Her teaching technique, at least on the show to the hostess (Mary - the daughter of Marianne Fons), was with using a strip quilt and using the strips in much the same manner an elementary student would use the wide-lined paper to practice their cursive skills, using loops, or one letter repeatedly and then using a letter with a variation to it.  It was pretty impressive and I have to say that having the quilt, batting, and backing attached on rollers for quilting, sure looks easier than pinning, marking and wrestling a big quilt around on a small machine...most of my quilts are larger than lap size.

Many of you have long-arms and some of you quilt for others (to me that's terrifying - I'd be afraid of ruining someone's hard work) and I barely quilt at all and when I do it's only been straight-line quilting, though I took one class on free-motion quilting - learning both with template and without.  Free-motion is all about practice, as I'm sure the same holds true whether using a long-arm or a standard machine.  Maybe that's why I prefer piecing.  I just haven't taken the time to practice my FMQ enough to get that visual and muscle memory going.  If I were ever to get a long-arm, it'd have to go in my living room, there just isn't room anywhere else. Hmmmm, dream list: new home with large, finished basement for long-arm. But then, I'd probably never buy a machine that costs as much as my last vehicle for something that I do just as a hobby.

Shifting gears, it's hard to believe I've been home now for a week, and I'll be leaving again on the 30th.  But what I wanted to share, is that I DID bring the treadle machine home with me.  I posted about it here and here.

Arlington Treadle Sewing Machine mfrd after 1900.

Cabinet housing Arlington Treadle Sewing Machine

When I get back to the northern town I'll go into the LQS and pick up the leather belt for it.  That's all it needs along with a little TLC on both the machine and the cabinet.  I let my brother Eugene (who claims it as his aided by mom's divisive ways when she was living) know that I brought it home and he's made no comment.  He'd previously only requested that if I did bring it home, I should make sure I put in my will that it gets bequeathed to his son.  The machine belonged to my (step)dad's family and my brother and I only share the same mother, so hence his request.  I like my Dad's idea better as he says it's HIS and he can give it to whomever HE wants, hehe.  Eugene does contract jobs all over the country so lives in a travel home and uses public storage for those things he has no room for so having this with me is better than having it in storage, or with my Dad who would like to see bare walls and minimal everything else.  Some day I'll have time to just be at home and I'll clean it up and play with it.  When I was in high school, a treadle was all we had at home to use, so I'm hoping that's a bit like riding a bicycle...one never forgets.

Treadle Me This

This machine is a riddle, a mystery, an enigma, and I would love it if someone has any information they can provide about it. 

Arlington treadle machine

It's my Dad's treadle machine that he can't recall now as to whether it was his Mom's or his Grandma's.  I wrote a little about it last summer, and you can read that here.  It's in a beautiful oak cabinet which needs a little bit of TLC, mostly on the top, and a good polish or oil rub.  The machine inside is an Arlington.  I have searched and searched and searched and cannot find anything of significance to help me learn who the manufacturer was or any other related history.  

I was in the local quilt shop here in the wet land - ok, well right now it isn't very wet and in fact it's warming up nicely and will be that way for quite a few days before we see any more of that wet stuff, and while looking around, noticed there are a LOT of antique machines of all types both in and out of cabinets all around the quilt store, but none are Arlingtons.  I asked the man whom I was directed to as the one who acquired them all and was the resident 'expert'.  I showed him the pictures I'd taken - the same ones I'm posting here, but he knew nothing about it.  He offered to make something up for me though - good sense of humor, I much preferred his honesty though.

Rather than wires to raise the machine, it has these metal bars, of which one has "Patd. Mar 27, 1900" so it's a fair guess, and good deductive reasoning, that the machine was made after that date.  That still wouldn't help me decide whether it might be his mother's or his grandmother's.

The plate has this slit in it all the way through for about a 1" length and 1/4" from the left side.  I asked the gent at the quilt store and he said that was so that it could be 'opened' a hair to give a snug fit should it loosen and fall out when the machine was closed up and put away.  Hmmm, sounds possible, but was that now a made up story? Anyone know?

There is a serial number, but this and the patent number on the above rod are the only other information on the machine.

This is the shuttle loaded with a bobbin, in place.  In looking around the web I saw this is called a vibrating shuttle.

These are three of the four bobbins.  How old is that thread?  Some of it had unrolled and become tangled and I had a tough time breaking it with my hands.

Yes, some cleaning would be in order here as well as the whole machine.  This is where the bobbins get wound.

Nothing of significance here.

No decoration on the end plate, but it's free of rust and wear and tear.

The decals are all in great shape and it really doesn't look like it saw a tremendous amount of use.

After a VERY short test-drive, stitches were even and straight, but the tension appears to be off slightly.  It probably hasn't been used in 30 - 50 years! and the belt broke.

A bird's-eye view.

 The 'belt' is leather and it's held together with that small C-shaped clamp.  I removed the threads and I think they weren't supposed to be there but were the product of some past sewing effort.

Here you can see that the leather belt split open...there went my further attempts to keep sewing on the machine.  When I was at the quilt store, I asked about these and the gent said they keep them in stock; he new right away what I needed when I showed him and said leather.  He said they were in the $14 + change range.  I didn't get one yet but may before I leave to head back south.

And a close-up of the decal on the top.

The fate of this machine is still a little up in the air.  As this is my Dad's, technically my STEP-Dad's, one brother prefers that its ownership remain on that side of the family.  I can understand that, but at the same time, it IS my Dad's to do with as he pleases.  He has said I could have it, and even told me to take it south with me back in March, but I'm not sure the ensuing family strife would be worth it, so my brother and I have discussed it and he would be ok with me taking it as long as I promise to put in my will that should he die before me, that it then go to his son.  I could do that.