Women's Work

This Singer treadle sewing machine, Model 27, dates to about 1902. Cousin L inherited it from her mother, my Aunt F, who had six children and sewed beautifully.

Aunt F was given the machine by her mother-in-law, my maternal grandmother/L's paternal grandmother. I don't remember our grandmother sewing on it --- perhaps that seemed too daunting, as she had 14 grandchildren --- but it's likely she would have used it during the years she was raising her four children, the first of whom was born in 1914.

L and I speculated that this machine might have been purchased for our great-great grandmother, AEB, born in 1860. In 1885, she married JCStC, a widower with two young children. Their mother --- who was first cousin to AEB --- had died about 18 months earlier, so AEB started married life with a ready-made family and added four children to it. Her second child was our grandmother. In 1902, her stepchildren were adults, but the younger children were 4, 10, 12, and 16, so a new sewing machine would have seen much use.

L wants to find a new home for this antique, and as I photographed it on the last day of our visit, relishing the details of its design and thinking about the women who had used it, I realized that I'd love to have it. Yes, I'm trying to downsize and have fewer possessions --- but this "women's work" heirloom touched my heart, Phil's skills will restore it to good working order, and this vintage sewing machine will have a new home, far in time and space from where it first made life easier for several of my relatives on the distaff side. 

(There are three additional photos under "Extra Photos" -- I hope!)