Sewing in a Power Cut with a 1940s Essex Sewing Machine.

I've seen these little machines but have never seen one working before. Fascinating! ❤️

I learned how to sew on my mother's sewing machine, and one year I recived a little $10 child's sized sewing machine (at this point I had made myself a pair of shorts, a pillow cover and a lap quilt) and it was so small and light that it bounched itself away across the table as I tried to use it. Needless to day I went back to using my mothers machine until I was about 16 or so when she got one for me during black friday, and it's served me well this past decade I've owned it

Yay Constance!!! Lovely to have a fellow witch ♥️

This is such a sweet little machine. It seems like a very relaxing way to sew - which is something I never expected to say about machine sewing.

If you do try using this machine for embroidery, I hope you'll film it a bit, I absolutely love your videos. <3

Lovely video and such true words! My grandma had her pedal sewing machine for over 30 years of heavy use (she was a seamstress) ❤️ I learned how to machine sew with that machine. Some of my best memories. It got replaced with an electric sewing machine I inherited and still use. Thank you 🤗

I learned how to sew on and still use my moms sewing machine that she got probably late 80s/early 90s - its not the greatest but it works for hat i need it for! I do also have my grandmas machine she got in the 60s when she got married which i would prefer to use, but its attached to a table which i don't have room for at the moment so its away in storage unfortunately.

This video makes me want to research an old hand cranked sewing machine my nana has. I wonder if it still functions or if I can tinker with it to get it to function. Thank you for the inspiration Madame Constance! I look forward to watching more of your videos

What a cute little machine! I love how older machines like that were built to last. I also have a Bernina sewing machine; it was not cheap but I bought it for two reasons, one being that they are still making parts for machines that are 50 years old, and the second being that it is hopefully the only machine i'll ever need to buy.

I use the sewing machine my grandmother got me in highschool. It's an incredibly out of date brother machine but it does the trick! I also have a singer treadle machine from 1919!

That machine is darling!

popped over from Costuming Drama

A lovely little video! Noelle (Costuming Drama) sent us. What and adorable little machine!

Great video. New subscriber.

Such a lovely video! Loved hearing you talk about old machines, I very much share in the sentiment. I recently found a french eyelet press from the turn of the century, still in excellent working condition - they truly don't make them like they used to!

My mother’s electric singer didn’t have reverse, I grew up doing the swivel at the beginning and end of seams. I’d forgotten about that.

Constance, I love your videos. It is so nice to see you here. So sorry we will have to reschedule our visit in May. I had to cancel. But so glad I get to see you here😘 how cute of a machine, I love it. Thanks for sharing.

Charming!

my very own essex just arrived from ebay today, thank you so much for making this as a very simple small machine is exactly what i need

What an amazing little machine!

I love your little machine Constance it's so cute! I agree with what you said to Cathy a perfect starter machine, especially if someone doesn't have a lot of space with the added bonus of it would be hard to break being made of metal.
Is it very heavy to move around if you need to?

I think you might have inadvertently answered a research question for me. I collect militaria (uniforms, medals, etc.) and I came across this sort of stitch on something some time ago and I was trying to determine what I was seeing and what it meant/date it. I'd have to look back through my notes to find the details or even which piece for certain, but I now think this soldier had someone do some mending for him with a machine that chain-stitched like this one and add some insignia while they did. Thank you! I might be able to cross off something on my research list.
On a side note, the machines used to sew shut bags of livestock feed still sew much like this, so, once you get them home and need to use them, you simply take hold of the one unknotted end and pull to open.

I'm not sure if anyone will see this since this video has been up for a couple weeks by now, but does anyone have any tips on working with that bobbin mechanism? I have a 1948 Betsy Ross sewing machine with the same mechanism and I keep having a problem with the thread winding around the hook and jamming. It's electric, so it moves pretty fast and gets tangled rather quickly so that I have to cut the jam out and redo my stitching. Thankfully it hasn't ruined any seams as I've only done test swatches so far, but I would really like to get it sorted so I don't have to hand stitch everything as hand sewing isn't my forte.

Hi Constance - I was wondering if you could tell me what your tension settings are on this - I have a similar one that I got recently and for some reason, the mechanism below (where the bobbin normally sits) crashes into the needle and it doesn't work, or doesn't pick up the thread properly. Do you ever have this problem on your machine?

How cute, that little machine is adorable!
I restored a 1900's German transverse hand crank machine and now use that every day. My modern (cheap, horrible, plastic) machine is now gathering dust and I think I will just give it away. These old machines were made to last, and if something goes wrong with it, I know I can take care of it myself. They are such a pleasure to use, and I'm delighted to see more and more people doing the same <3

Interesting, I have an old apple corer that looks quite similar to your sewing machine.🤔 same colors even..😁

What an amazing little machine.

I had one of these as a child, I loved it. Made doll clothes and things for a charity along with a group of friends.

I have a mini singer sewing machine. It's adorable.

Hi can you help me? I picked up one of these machines but the bottom thread propeller wasn’t attached. Can you show me how it’s attached and works? Thanks in advance

I learned first by hand = my grannie had me sew j=cloths into dolls dresses, then on on my grannie's electric (converted from hand turned?) Singer - no idea what happened to it. (but also hand turned machine at school, and a neighbour had a treadle)..Then got a Viking Husqvarna for my 18th birthday - which was still going strong 38 years later till a lint fire during lockdown (had needed major ervice two years before and needs seen to agin). Bought a Janome metal bodied machine as I could not get the mannie to come out to collect it to fix during lockdown (the original shop I bout the Viking from is still in operation).

To finish - run the stitching off the edge then cut off, you then put the loose thread through the last loop of stitching. In other words catch the loop to cast off like with hand sewing.
Birdy

I have just bought this machine without needle.
Do you have any idea what needle fits please ?

I love this video. Thank you for making this for us to see. I had not seen one like this before.

I just bought one of these because I find the willcox and gibbs machines are all so expensive
Willcox and gibbs also made chainstitchers that were larger

I also had a metal toy chain stitch sewing machine as a child. I was fascinated with that machine and the stitches, even more than sewing with it. Mine was a more recent model and had a very thin electric cord with foot pedal. When the too thin cord kinked, it didn't function and fun was done. No replacement for that cord at the time. :-( Ah well. A few years later, I was gifted my own grownup Singer Stylist machine. Alls well that ends better.

To end a seam on a chain stitcher, cut your thread a bit above the needle and continue to sew till the thread runs out. The tail end will wind up going between the last loop and that prevents an accidental unravel. You can secure it a bit more by pulling the tail till the last loop is tight around it

Love your arm warmers and shawl!

I've had one of those machines for several years now without ever getting around to trying sewing on it. I really must do that at some point. I came with a sweet little extension-table.

adorable

How fun! I just found one of these machines and hope to craft with it. Thanks for the video about it!

Just been given an Essex sewing machine just like this! Thank you for the demo and the information… I too have a connection with Colchester! I did my A levels at college there and I met my husband there… I fully concur with you re plastic sewing machines. I learned to sew on my mums singer hand cranked and when I started work in 1975 the first thing I saved up to buy was an electric Singer… it lasted about 20 years and the motor burnt out. It was cheaper to buy a new machine than have it repaired. I never really liked the newer “plastic” singer. Recently I came across a little “handbag” sized Elna lotus (also swiss made) from the 1970’s with all replaceable parts and bronze internal mechanics metal casing and I love it! Haven’t used my “ plastic” Singer since! I also own a 1940’s black metal hand cranked singer which I use but it’s very heavy to carry around… sadly I never kept my mums machine when she died as I had my “plastic” electric singer and now I wish I had!

As ever I am late to this party. I'm so pleased to see you using this. Today, I've been playing with sewing machines, my mother's original sewing machine, bought at the end of WW2. It's a Mk1 Essex sewing machine. They were built in Wanstead. Today is the anniversary of my mothers death she would have been 99. The Essex Sewing machine was never a toy. It was a serious chain stitch sewing machine. As I grew up I always referred to it as a toy, but mother assured me she had made all the curtains for the house they/ we lived in at Ilford. Then she got a Harris 9H machine. Which she got rid of. Grrrrr! I wish I had it!

I'd send some pics, but I'm not sure how to.

This was a very frustrating video to watch.
1. You talked a lot and showed very little.
2. Camera was on your face 85% of the time. Why? The focus is the machine, not you.
3. The only view change we had was camera facing needle shaft covered up by billowing cloth, so no view of stitch, or sewing or machine.

Camera should be mounted on your head to the left in a headband. Directed to the sewing so we see the needle action, stitch quality, and hands working. This is a VIDEO not RADIO, so SHOW don't TELL. Talk less, show more. Too much talk is hard on the ears.

Hi Constance, I know this is a long shot as this video was years ago, but I have recently purchased this lovely machine, however its catching on the underneath of the mechanism hook that forms the chain stitch, cotton build up around this and stops the machine from working, I was wondering if you could shed some light on perhaps helping me out. thanking you in advance :-)

you all need to singer sewing machine oil all your essex hand machines well , makes them super smooth to use . !!