I was gifted this old coffin top Standard rotary treadle sewing machine by a fellow quilt guild member. She has a pretty early 6 digit serial number so I'm guessing she is from the 1890's - 1900ish. It was in an uncleaned and somewhat neglected, but fair condition. I knew nothing about vintage treadle sewing machines and was very excited to get my hands dirty and learn all about it. I started to clean her up right away. I first removed the machine from the cabinet. It was evident right away that the decal was long gone so all there was to do was to clean off the years and years of oil and crud that covered the whole thing. It took a lot of elbow grease and there is still more that can be done. What I'm most excited about is how much better the cabinet looks after a cleaning with Murphy's Oil soap, touch up with some Old English and an application of Howard's Restor-A-Finish. We figured out how to cut and fit the belt with a little help from YouTube. I was able to figure out how to thread it and within minutes I was sewing. She works like a dream.
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| Before she came home to me. |
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| Catalog Image |
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| Coffin top before |
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| Machine before |
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| Dirty bobbin case with a little Liquid Wrench |
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| Distressed top before |
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| After |
Here she is in action with her ruffler foot attachment.
