Present Perfect: A New Treasure

A New, Old Sewing Machine

When our Thanksgiving houseguests drove

out from the east, they brought along a perfect

present for me ~ an old sewing machine. 

I ADORE old sewing machines.  I like the look of

them but especially, I love to think of the history

of each machine.  I think back to a time when women

would finish their household chores and in the evening

would open up their machines and sew clothing and

quilts.  What a better way to spend an evening than

the present day act of lounging on the couch in front

of tv.  Most women sewed out of necessity, the budgets

were tight and if you had the skills you could make

clothes for yourself and the kids.  I have known women

in my life who were always the most stylishly dressed

and few people knew all of their clothes were homemade.

They would visit fancy dress shops, try on the dresses,

figure out what looked good on them and go home and

make it themselves.  Good for them!

And then, there were the quilts.  Of course, a subject

near and dear to me.  From quilt historians we now know

that many of the old quilts were not made from scraps

of old clothing but many were planned projects with the

fabrics purchased for that particular project.  Quilting

was an art form for many women, as it still is today.

This machine is in its own table which

folds up neatly when not in use.

It came with the attachments and the

instruction booklet, so hopefully I'll be

able to figure out how to use all those gizmos.

It also came with the sweetest little chair

 that is just the right height for the cabinet.

The seat of the chair opens up to

provide more storage.

Love it!