06-11-2021, 12:08 PM
Back to vintage sewing machines!
My Mother had a Singer machine very similar to Dave's pictured above. She had it motorised and used it extensively. I think the final drive ratio was a bit high as it use to dance across the table top on full throttle. She was very protective of it and was not keen on using it for non-domestic jobs like car trimming.
When I came to restoring the RL saloon, realising that I needed a sewing machine, my Dad found a suitable one in the local second-hand shop in Silsden near Keighley. He spent a lot of time in the shop which was run by 'Gillian', a very glamorous blonde of a certain age who could well have been a former Tiller Girl/stripper/porn actress (delete as appropriate).
The machine he came up with is a Criterian, sold by Barwick and Haggas of Keighley. It is a superb piece of machinery, goodness knows what it must have cost new. Barwick and Haggas were actually jewellers and one of the oldest firms in Keighley. I let my Mother do the sewing and it has done the headlinings in the RL and the Pytchley as well as other associated jobs. I have a suspicion that the machine may be of German manufacture, marketed by Barwick and Haggas.
My Mother had a Singer machine very similar to Dave's pictured above. She had it motorised and used it extensively. I think the final drive ratio was a bit high as it use to dance across the table top on full throttle. She was very protective of it and was not keen on using it for non-domestic jobs like car trimming.
When I came to restoring the RL saloon, realising that I needed a sewing machine, my Dad found a suitable one in the local second-hand shop in Silsden near Keighley. He spent a lot of time in the shop which was run by 'Gillian', a very glamorous blonde of a certain age who could well have been a former Tiller Girl/stripper/porn actress (delete as appropriate).
The machine he came up with is a Criterian, sold by Barwick and Haggas of Keighley. It is a superb piece of machinery, goodness knows what it must have cost new. Barwick and Haggas were actually jewellers and one of the oldest firms in Keighley. I let my Mother do the sewing and it has done the headlinings in the RL and the Pytchley as well as other associated jobs. I have a suspicion that the machine may be of German manufacture, marketed by Barwick and Haggas.