This might seem like an unusual post, but I think of treadle sewing machines quite often. The first reason is my Grandma Beck. She had one. I think it was a singer, but I don't remember. I also don't know when she got it. I don't know if Grandpa give it to her or if she had it before they married. She may have, as she did go to Milwaukee's School for Women and graduated as a milliner and seamstress. Her sewing machine was one of her most treasured possessions. She taught her daughter how to sew on this machine, she even tried to teach me to use it, but I was a pretty scrawny kid, I couldn't push the treadle to make it go. Grandma could sew pretty much anything on her treadle. Some of her own clothes, mending and a lot of my Barbie doll clothes. She even "fixed" my Red Baby a few times so that I would have her so I could sleep. When I would visit Grandma and I'd be off playing, I could hear the steady rhythm of her feet moving the treadle and the needle making wonderful things. Sometimes I would sit on her bed and just watch her make her creations or mend a blouse.
Later on in life I got a job with Ashley Pecka at Shu-craft and learned how to repair shoes and other leather goods. I learned a lot from Ashley. Working as his apprentice was probably my favorite job. He had two treadle machines, one treadle machinewas converted to electric, but the other was an old Singer treadle machine. It was both ours favorite machine. You had so much control on it, speed, and felt wonderful. It was comfortable, and when I used it in the shop I always thought of grandma . I used that machine to fix everything from shoes, purses, customs holsters, to saddles, I even restored a McClellan military saddle, that I used, and still have. (this was a Red Baby)
