MAKE MINE VINTAGE!!
Gracious greeting to all!
Yes dear readers, I've returned! Where have I been?? Well sometimes I wonder! I do know however, that I'm currently on a weeks vacation and regretfully, it's all coming much too quickly to a close. If there was anytime to write a very long overdue post here.........well now is as good as any! To this day I marvel at Peter Lappin and how he use to consistently post at his blog 'Male pattern boldness' on a daily basis. I mean, you really gotta love blogging to have done that for several years! I consider myself lucky if I could get up the gumption to post every nine months! LOL!! Yes, Test if you're out there, I know you have all of the evidence against me........but remember there always a chance for reform!!!
Well, now that I'm back, I wanted to discuss the second greatest love in my life (of course Halston being number one) and that is my love of vintage Singer sewing machines!
I attribute this addiction to Peter over at MPB who has collected a number of vintage machines from a wide array of companies. Seeing him using and rhapsodizing about the virtues of vintage, eventually won me over and all I knew was that I had to be in possession of one of those treasures. At that time, I was the owner of a single Kenmore that I bought about 8 years ago, now that number has grown to 6, five of them being Singer machines each more than 50 years old. I was been bitten by the 'vintage bug' and became obsessed about owning one. Now some of you may wonder why anyone would prefer a straight stitch machine over the 'wonder' models of today? Well I'll put it to you straight.......when I want to hem a pair of Levi's or repair the split seam on a heavy woolen coat, the last thing I want to do is fight with a machine without piercing power! Yes, the computerized machines of today may do everything under the sun, but what they're so sorely lacking in is what I call good old fashioned backbone! I can sit down at my cast iron 1943 model 99 or 201 with those same jeans that need hemming and I'm confident that either of those machines will be able to do the job without a whimper or groan!
What do we have today capable of completing such tasks..........well to be honest....... not much! Plastic and nylon gears are just no match for iron and aluminum castings along with solid steel guts!!! Can I get an Amen from the vintage congregation!!! Yes, dear readers I wouldn't trade any of my machines for anything they're making today!! At Singer's height, they held 80 percent of the world market, producing finely crafted machines that were meant to last a lifetime, now that very same name is but a shadow of itself, churning out cheap plastic junk from China, overflowing the landfills!
I've been preaching the gospel about vintage machines for the past couple of years and feel both proud and lucky to have several in my ownership. Nowadays many sewists seem to have caught 'vintage fever' and classic machines are becoming both harder to find and much more expensive! I attribute that fact to the influence and popularity of Ebay, Craiglists and even the classifieds. If you're thinking of owning one, all I can say is don't wait!! As the old expression goes...."when you snooze, you lose"! Yes........ lets raise a toast to these masterpieces of precision engineering and craftsmanship and to the men and women responsible for making them!! Hip, Hip Hooray! See you soon!!!
Yes dear readers, I've returned! Where have I been?? Well sometimes I wonder! I do know however, that I'm currently on a weeks vacation and regretfully, it's all coming much too quickly to a close. If there was anytime to write a very long overdue post here.........well now is as good as any! To this day I marvel at Peter Lappin and how he use to consistently post at his blog 'Male pattern boldness' on a daily basis. I mean, you really gotta love blogging to have done that for several years! I consider myself lucky if I could get up the gumption to post every nine months! LOL!! Yes, Test if you're out there, I know you have all of the evidence against me........but remember there always a chance for reform!!!
Well, now that I'm back, I wanted to discuss the second greatest love in my life (of course Halston being number one) and that is my love of vintage Singer sewing machines! 
I've been preaching the gospel about vintage machines for the past couple of years and feel both proud and lucky to have several in my ownership. Nowadays many sewists seem to have caught 'vintage fever' and classic machines are becoming both harder to find and much more expensive! I attribute that fact to the influence and popularity of Ebay, Craiglists and even the classifieds. If you're thinking of owning one, all I can say is don't wait!! As the old expression goes...."when you snooze, you lose"! Yes........ lets raise a toast to these masterpieces of precision engineering and craftsmanship and to the men and women responsible for making them!! Hip, Hip Hooray! See you soon!!!
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