Davises

This week I was perusing Craigslist -  a nightly activity for me - for sewing machines.  Most of the time I just look at the machines, but this time one ad caught my eye.  Someone was selling an old machine - and included a ton of pictures in the ad from Pinterest about what you could do with the treadle irons.

Yikes.

I emailed him to ask if he had the machine still, and he did!  He said it was a Davis Honeymoon...I Googled and was pretty sure that was a vertical feed model.  I was so excited...I've wanted a Davis vertical feed for a while.  So I drove two hours round-trip...in the snow...getting lost twice...to get this machine.

It wasn't a vertical feed.

It had a vibrating shuttle.  I really don't care for vibrating shuttles.

It had a leaf tension mechanism.  I don't care for leaf tensions.

I was so disappointed. 

The funny thing is, though, that just last month my parents gave me a Davis Advance machine for my birthday.  It was really sweet - I had followed the auction on shopgoodwill.com, but the price went higher than I wanted, and I talked myself out of the purchase.  However, I had shown the listing to my parents, and when I bowed out they jumped on it.  I had thought it was a vertical feed, and, again, I was wrong, but I was really happy to find that it was made around 1896.  I had always wanted a pre-1900s machine, and even though this one was only 5 years older than my Singer 27 from 1901, I was still so happy to have a machine from the 1800s.

I wondered if I could still sell the irons and use the Advance's irons for both machines.  Just swap them out.

I think it might work.  The machine beds are both the same size. 

And really, I have such a soft spot for these old machines, it didn't take long to start feeling a fondness for the Honeymoon.  The decals are grimy, but pretty.  

I still plan on selling the cabinet and irons...which is a pity, since they're so pretty...

I'll list them for a couple of weeks, and if they don't sell it won't be the end of the world.

I am sad that the slide plate is missing on the machine, because that's where the serial number is.  I'd love to get a date on this.  I also really want to get the irons and cabinet for the Advance from my parents' house so I can get both machines up and running. I can't wait to start using them.