This is the journey of a single small Sewing Machine from the 1920s. Lost and found and lost again, it has been the subject of much appreciation and love and at the same time to witness to careless indifference from owner to owner. The start of this story begins over three years ago in 2019. The Coronavirus Pandemic was non-existent and people were going about their lives as they normally would, maskless and free. It was then when I chose to visit the largest ancestral home in our town. My fascination with antiques brought me to explore the 1950s mansion that has unfortunately begun to rot from the inside-out. Each corner was a new one to explore with antiques and vintage items everywhere you look. Playing around, I stumbled upon a small box which once held some chips. The box was on the second floor of the mansion tucked away in a dusty corner overrun with cobwebs and dirt. Curiosity got the best of me and I snuck a peek inside the inconspicuous looking box to find a Singer Sewing Machine. It was dusty and rusty, but from a single look I was intrigued. There were two inside that box mixed together without care.
I asked the caretaker if the owner had any intention of selling anything in the run down home. She said she would ask permission from the owner and would contact UnknownCebu as soon as possible. Being the owner of Several antique sewing machines it was a delight to think of having another one for the collection. I tried to start the machine by turning the shaft, but nothing happened. It was rusted wherever you looked. It looked like it was beyond saving at that point and would rather be thrown in the junkyard for scrapping. After exploring more of the old mansion I went off in search of more antiques elsewhere. Judging from the words of the caretaker it had been there for at least 4 years before I saw it.
Following several days of waiting I returned to the mansion along with a small bicycle to carry the machine. For it’s small size it is quite heavy and sturdy. No wonder it survived all those years of neglect. After entering the mansion and talking with the caretaker I had found out that one of the sewing machines’ owner was not the family who owned a mention, but some other fellow who we also had to ask permission from if we were going to acquire it. Not feeling up to the task I declined and simply asked for the Sewing Machine which was from the Mansion itself. It had been in the same box untouched even after several days. It was already late in the morning and the heat had started to annoy me. Besides that I had many other things to do that day and couldn’t be bothered to check. As long as it looked like a Sewing Machine and was a heavy piece of metal I was fine. I hauled it on my bicycle and returned to my home to begin it’s cleaning and partial restoration. I had neither the budget nor the expertise to handle such an intricate machine, but knowing some basic maintenance procedures it was time to begin.
After applying some chemicals and Singer Oil I began to dismantle it screw by screw. Each screw was a pain to unscrew due to the rust which had frozen it shut. After all this was the first time I had ever dismantled an Antique. I followed some simple rules like… keep screws and bolts separate and each screw should be together with it’s part in a small compartment of its own and other rules I thought of myself while doing the project. After a good two hours of screwing, wiping, brushing and cleaning the insides and outsides of the machine it was complete. It was and still is a beauty to behold. The moment I finished I was amazed at what I saw. Not only did it surpass my expectations, though they weren’t too high to begin with, but the Sewing Machine had turned out great for a first time cleaning.
The hard work had paid off. I do not regret spending all that time struggling finding which piece fit with which. Anyway the Sewing Machine was still not working, though I had no plans to make it work anyway. It was beautiful as it is and would be an incredible display piece for my small collection. The pride of the fleet as some might say. I did some research into the plate number located on the head and it started with a G then continued with many more numbers. Following a short seaprrch on Ismacs.net I found out that the Sewing Machine was a pretty nice find.
According to my research it is a #15 Singer Sewing Machine made on January 6, 1924 and that the design was called “Tiffany” or “Gingerbread”. Since it was made in 1924 it is 98 years old as of the time I’m writing this. I was overjoyed that I had score such a jackpot and planned to return it to the owners. Unrelated problems arose though and I had to leave to project at that for some time. It stayed like that for about a week. Out of curiosity I closely observed an old picture of one of my long dead great grand aunties and found something interesting in the photo. After examining it with a magnifying glass the unmistakable patterns of the Sewing Machine that I had found in the mansion caught my eye. It took me some time to formulate a theory that this machine was the same one in the picture.
I dug further into the history of the machine and started asking the last living relatives of the person in the picture. They came to a consensus that Sofia (the woman in the picture) lived in the mansion in the past. The family began to bicker about when and what event happened regarding the Sewing Machine. In summary two stories came out of the slight argument and the oldest of the family began to speak. They spoke fondly about their memories of the “clanging” of the sewing machine. They explained that after World War 2 the machine was used for over 30 years. By the end of it’s life it was used for about 50 years, though I theorize that it was not frequently used since it is still quite well preserved considering the events it gone through like World War 2. After it broke it’s legs were repurposed for another Sewing machine, but since the owner wanted it to be preserved for the sake of her mother who had bought it. It was displayed on a shelf in the living room for a very long time. When the house began to fall into ruin due to family squabbling most of the valuable belongings were stripped away one by one. Not seeing the value of this Sewing Machine it was put in that box, forgotten.
Now there is something I’d like to add before wrapping up this short story. This sewing machine probably has some sort of spirit watching it. The sewing machine I found in the box all those years ago is not the one I brought home. Somehow… The caretaker says she didn’t touch the box ever since I found it. Quite peculiar..
In summary this is the story of how a little curiosity can go a long way and the story of how family squabbling and in fighting can lead to the loss of such a beautiful legacy. The bond of family is supposed to be strong, but as seen in the journey of this sewing machine it is fraught with peril.
