Sewing machines that were my mother's

[retromania]

Matt

I was about to ask where you bought your ironing board and then I saw your last sentence. Thanks tho and I will be on the lookout.

 

[retromania]

Allen

I love vintage sewing machines and all the latest computerized ones, but wasn't familiar with the Vigorelli. I wonder where the dealerships were in the US. Some of the vintage machines I was less familiar with were from cities in the north that were large enough to support several different sewing machine dealerships. My mother sewed on a Singer. Here it seemed that if you didn't sew on a Singer, then it was a Kenmore. Most of my childhood friends mothers sewed and when I went into a new playmate's house for the first time I looked at two things: What kind of sewing machine did she sew on and what did the kitchen appliances look like and in particular the dishwasher and washing machine. But please tell us more about the travelling grandfather clock!!! Lolll I can't wait. That sounds like something a sister would do. My sister is gone now, but we had a real love hate relationship and I can see us getting in a real tug over our mother's sewing things. AND SHE DID NOT SEW!!!! Lolll I remember her constructing a skirt once and I was amazed at what a good job she did not to have ever sewed in her life. I encouraged her and applauded her work even tho I HAD NEVER SEWN IN MY LIFE. Lolll It was a corduroy skirt and she had cut out one of the sections upside down so when she walked in the den and did a twirl it had a two toned effect. I fell across a chair laughing. That was mean spirited of me and I did apologize. To have never sewed a stitch in her life, she was a natural. I miss her. We were so much alike. She was a lot of fun.

 

[whirlcool]

Ah the traveling grandfather clock story.

WHen my sisters mother in law and father in law passed away as part of their estate my sister & her husband were willed an absolutely beautiful Sligh grandfather clock. This thing must have been 7 feet tall and made out of carved cherry. Not your average grandfather clock. And it had beautiful tone too.

When my sister first got it she called and asked me how to transport it. Her husband was just going to tie it to the roof of his car and drive it 20 somewhat miles to their home. I told them that you don't dare do that to the clock. You call a place that services grandfather clocks and they will move it for you. She called them and they charged $150.00 for the move and cleaning it out and adjusting it. Not too bad I thought. Well about a year later my sister gets a phone call from her brother in law's "signifigant other" a wild ass drag queen. This person told my sister that 20 years earlier her husbands parents gave her a very nice dining room set when they bought a new one. So somehow thie queen thought that the dining room set offset the grandfather clock and the drag queen wanted that clock returned to him!

One day my sister came home to find the grandfather clock gone! Seems his brother and the drag queen came over and explained their story to my sisters husband and he let them take the clock! About 3 months later my sister went over there when only the kids were at home and her and her husband abducted the clock and brought it back to her house.

Then the drag queen showed up at my sisters house in full drag and demanded that she return the clock immediately! I was on the phone with my sister and heard all this shreeking in the backround. Then it was silent. My sister retailiated by giving this queen a bitch slap and then pushing her down the 4 steps on the front of her house. He fell in a snow bank and the wig went flying across the yard in the wind.

The moral of this story is that this just shows you what happens when you get two very greedy people fighting over something. Now 8 years later my sister still has the clock and scratches in the finish to remind her of the whole incident. So you see why even though she isn't using my mom's sewing machine, in her mind possession is everything.

BTW, this Vigorelli sewing machine was sold at a small sewing shop in downtown LaGrange, IL back in 1954. LaGrange is a suburb of Chicago.

 

[retromania]

Does the clock still keep time and chime after all that? Lolll

 

[whirlcool]

I have never seen the clock at her house, it's been 7 years since I have visited her (some of you may remember the crazy messages about our stay there)and that was before her in-laws passed on. I did see the clock at the in-laws house. Absolutely beautiful. I have a Howard Miller grandfather clock I received as a retirement gift from my airline and it doesn't hold a candle to this Sligh my sister has.