Treadle Sewing Machines: Yea or Nay?

Dear Hearts and Gentle Lurkers, I have a new obsession: treadle sewing machines.  I just checked this machine out this morning.  It is ONE BLOCK FROM MY APARTMENT.   I found it on Craigslist.  According to the serial number, it was manufactured on April 28, 1920.  Ninety years old!

The seller was asking $250 but will take $200.  Yes?  No?  The hand wheel turns smoothly as does the treadle.  It will need a belt.  It takes regular drop-in Singer bobbins.

I hate to dump this topic on you so early in the week but I need to know.

I'm not sure how this treadle meme got planted in my brain.  I saw two for sale when I went to the Chelsea flea market with my sewing machine-enabler friend, Johanna, a few weeks ago.



And then I read Through the Eye of a Needle, as I mentioned yesterday, in which treadles are a major theme.

I know I don't want one as old as the one above; in fact I'd prefer one with a Singer 15, which do exist apparently, albeit in less lovely treadle tables.

Oh, the stress of it all!

You know, sometimes I do wonder if maybe I am a bit of a drama-- no, I won't say it.  Some of you know what I'm suggesting and the rest of you, well, no matter.  But do you ever wonder if you don't actually invite drama into your lives; like when things are going just fine and dandy life feels a little....boring?

And speaking of drama -- LOOK what was sitting in my mailbox upon my return from rain-soaked Provincetown on Saturday:

Readers, I know it doesn't seem possible that someone with as dewy-fresh a complexion as mine could be facing his THIRTIETH (not thirteenth, my dears, thirtieth) high school reunion, but I recently looked at my passport and the dates do indeed line up.

And here I am in 1979 at seventeen and my oomphiest.



I don't know where to start:  What should I wear?  Should I sew it myself?  Should I invite Cathy? 

And WHO holds their high school reunion at the Waldorf Astoria?  Shouldn't this take place at the Econolodge on Rte. 17 or the high school gym or something?  This is not just fancy, it's fancy-shmancy, and I know most of you recognize the difference.  I guess since I'm not on the reunion committee I really have no right to complain though.

Long-time readers will remember that I have already attended a thirtieth high school reunion, only not my own, as the guest of an old (well, my age) elementary school friend, Amy.  So I should feel well prepared, right? But I don't. 

What do you think?  Obviously I have to go -- if only to experience cocktails and dinner at the Waldorf, not exactly my usual hang-out.  If I thought I might run into Ginger Rogers and Walter Pidgeon having a "week-end" there I might be more excited. 

In closing, three questions:

1. Is a treadle sewing machine worth getting now or should I wait until after the Peak Oil apocalypse?  Do you own a treadle?  If you do, is it hard work to pump it?  Is it fun/reliable?  Should I buy the one pictured up top?

2.  What should I wear to my thirtieth high school reunion?  (It''s October 2nd, right around the corner)

3.  Finally, do you think I'm a drama _________?  (rhymes with clean).  And if yes, doesn't that actually make for better blogging, when you think about it?  Do any of you identify as such?

Be kind!