Paul’s sewing machines powered by a treadle

This page is ordered by age, and only includes machines powered by a treadle. A separate pictorial index includes all the machines I've ever owned.

Foot treadles were perhaps the most common way to power sewing machines until electricity took over in 1920s. The story goes that Isaac Singer actually first used a treadle with a sewing machine, but it didn't occur to him to patent it. By the time he realized his mistake, it was too late!

Click any image here to see its blog entry, and more pictures.

The main blog page is kept in the order the machines joined my collection (and also has other sewing machine related entries).

c.1864 Willcox & Gibbs w/ glass tension

1866 Grover & Baker chain stitcher

c.1870 Johnson, Clark & Co. Home Shuttle treadle

c.1871 American Button-Hole, Overseaming & Sewing Machine Co. w/ overseamer

1871 Howe "Letter A" (re-homed)

1871 Singer "New Family" (re-homed)

1872 Wheeler & Wilson No.3

c.1873 Gold Medal "Home" (re-homed)

1875 Willcox & Gibbs Automatic Silent Sewing Machine

1877 Davis Low Arm Vertical Feed

1877 Singer Model 12 (re-homed)

1878 White VS1 (re-homed)

c.1880 Wheeler and Wilson No.8

c.1889 Wheeler and Wilson No.9

c.1900 Standard Rotary (re-homed)

c.1905 Jacoby "Eclipse" Fur Sewing Machine

1916 Singer 29-4 Leather Patcher

1916 Singer Model 66-1 Treadle (re-homed)