Lucy is a 1922 Singer model 66 treadle sewing machine with a back clamp – unusual as most are a side clamp for the foot. She sews like, pardon the pun, a well oiled machine. I picked her up several years back from a family who had been storing her in the garage for I have no idea how long. Prior to that she had been in a kitchen. I could tell because when I opened the cabinet the backside of the machine (the top when you open the cabinet) was covered not only with tons of dust but a layer of greasy grime that comes only from sitting around in a kitchen where fried foods have been cooked and over time particles wafting in the air have settled on there. I cleaned her up and she has been amazing to sew with since.
As part of my clearing out and downsizing I am having to sell some of my beloved machines as I will not have the room to keep all of them. Machines with a family connection are off limits. But machines I have picked up over the years like this are (sniff, sniff) on the chopping block. I’m hoping this one was the difficult one because she was such a joy to sew with and she was the first one I sold of this caliber. I hope the next few don’t feel like this to sell. LOL
I do have the comfort of knowing she went to a nice home. I know I’m talking about her like a kid or a pet, but these machines take on a life. Anyway, a very sweet woman now has her at her home in VA somewhere. She is a quilter and always wanted a treadle machine. She had completed a puzzle with the “Red Eye” decal on a treadle machine and was so pleased when Lucy looked just like her puzzle. In fact, she asked me if I had named the machine because I kept referring to it as “her” while speaking about it when she came to buy it. I explained that since it is a Red Eye decal, I went to red head, Lucille Ball with her red hair and I always loved her so I named the machine Lucy. So she will continue to call her Lucy and she just so happened to be a redhead as well, so maybe it was kismet, she was just meant to have Lucy.
She was sweet enough to send me this photo of Lucy set up under her puzzle of the machine she dreamed of having one day and now she has both!
Small and Simple 