For about 12 years...

...I ran the business of HelenHowes-SewingMachines with the eminently practical and reliable and strong help of my Lovely Man John Stormes. In May this year he was taken ill very suddenly, and it looked like he might only have a few days to live. He had been having treatment for cancer, and his somewhat-reduced gut was failing badly. So, he had yet more surgery, and survived that, and I was reduced from a Fine Plan to Move the Business  Together and then spend a deal more time in a leisurely fashion, to a situation of having to reclaim, manage, rework, and remove the business from one place to another. Without his help, as he had to retire at once, and with a bad back, and 6 months to get everything right and moved and sorted  and out.

Reader, I lost him. We had a few more months, but he was gently slipping away during all that time, and for the last 8 weeks of his life (and after yet more bloody surgery, on his spine), he was more-or-less all the time in bed, and sinking into a diminishment and reduction-of-life that was extraordinarily hard to behold. I kept him with me, and we were much helped by the visiting nurses and doctors and palliative-care people and all and all, but it was me who got up in the night, emptied his various bags, and washed his shrinking body.. And sat with him as he gently removed himself from the world...


So, bear with me. I'm strong, and I have been mourning for so long that I'm almost done, but the house is an utter shambles, stuff is all over the place, and I'm only now beginning to get on top of the stocktaking. And there's a whole winter's worth of that, I think...

Sort of Sortings

Oh, look, boxes of wires, pedals, and plugs... Probably about half of what I started with. I do wish people would keep their machines at least Dry...

Now, if you are on the Newsletter List (sign up HERE) you will know that life has bitten both of us in the proverbial bum somewhat. John has been forced to hand over his little part of the HHSewingMachines empire to my tender care, and retire forthwith because his health has fallen over. And, while I can do the electrical stuff, I am not the expert that he is, and the piles have somewhat developed breeding tendencies...  I'm desperately trying to sort and resort everything, because, at the end of October, I have to move it all home in some kind of tidy order and hand over the workshop to my good friend AitchBee

Here's a box of motors, being waiting to be photographed and numbered.. I did cull a lot of scruffy herberts before I started... I have actually made images for everything, and the page HERE will be updated tonight or tomorrow. Then the pedals will get the same treatment. And all will be cheap, most untested, quantity boxes available, and on-your-own-head-be-it...And I've been fettling and fixing and servicing and  preparing all the usable machines to go in the shop, and all have "clearance" prices for personal customers...
The pretty 128 above has lovely clean decals and a nice domed box.. Still practical after all these years, it comes with needles, tools, bobbins, manual, and all and all...

And the 99s have been breeding madly. I have older, younger, hand-crank and electric ones all ready to go
And 66s, 201s, and assorted lovelies beside

So, back to the lists

Still stocktaking, and comparing treadles...

Now, counting plates is all very well, but life has to continue unabated, and in spite of the snow. And, I was asked to compare the regular domestic treadle and the industrial types, and thought this might be a useful idea.
I have used a Singer 15 class domestic treadle for over 40 years - it's precise, fast, slow, and strong, and it sews chiffon at least as well as canvas. I actually think a machine that sews chiffon is superior, of course. Straight stitches in the Forward Direction only. Here it is (excuse the mess)

The irons are 21 inches wide, and the top is 29 inches from the floor. It's not very clear in this photo, but mine has a "big" drive wheel, which makes it faster. I have long ago lost the table-top, and it is set under and on top of a standard kitchen worktop about 8 feet long. This is useful. I have also set it a little further back than is standard, as the extra space in front of the needle is very useful.
And here's an Industrial one - this has a Singer 31k15 in it

Now, you will note that this machine is much bigger - it's not a "heavy-duty" machine, being designed for the tailoring trades, so fast and precise. 

It needs a longer treadle base, or your knees hit the left side of the irons, and this is done by adding a spacer top and bottom to a regular set of irons (this one also has a "large" wheel)

Apart from the spacers, and sometimes a set of pieces to raise the top, this is much the same as a domestic treadle. The width of the irons is 26 inches, and the height is still 29 inches. I have had electric (clutch motor) machines - they almost always seem to be taller, and I have been known to cut them down. I have a modern machine (a Juki ) but it still has (and needs) only those ever-so lovely straight stitches. Mind you, it does go backwards. And it's robust in many ways, but not like these two old ladies...

The 31k is for sale, by the way, see here for many other types and shapes of treadles from 1880 onwards

Now, back to the Plates Pages. Ho, hum...