Old Sewing Machines – Paul Verney
Paul Verney brought a fantastic selection of beautiful sewing machines to our October meeting (which is only a small proportion of his large collection). The cases were also works of art, polished to perfection, with wonderfully intricate inlay and stringing etc.
Isaac Singer teamed up with Edward Clark to start a sewing machine manufacturing company in the mid 1800s. Isaac personally made a fortune from patent fees for his ideas on various mechanical processes used in the machines and used it to fund his lifestyle which included fathering at least 24 children. Millions of Singer sewing machines were made from 1863 to 1912.
Many other sewing machine manufacturers were mentioned, as well as the innovations which gradually made the machines more sophisticated, including curved needles, presser feet, walking feet (to move the cloth forward).
One type of machine created chain stitch which was a series of interlocking loops, similar to crochet. The downside of this was that, if the end was not secured, you could pull it and the whole thing came undone.
Some early designs were produced right through to 1939 and other designs until the 1950s. There were treadle versions of most machines, which left both hands free to guide the material.
Paul has become a prolific collector and highly skilled restorer of old sewing machines. He restores donated machines which are given to groups in rural Africa via the charity Tools for Self Reliance. Some of these communities don’t have electricity, so these manual sewing machines are incredibly useful. It is great to know that these lovely old machines are continuing to be well used and probably will be for decades to come.
