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INTERNATIONAL SEWING MACHINE COLLECTORS' SOCIETY
THE PURPOSE OF THE INTERNATIONAL SEWING MACHINE COLLECTORS' SOCIETY IS TO FOSTER
THE COLLECTING OF, AND RESEARCH INTO, SEWING MACHINES.
* Manufactures
If your sewing machine, accessory, or ephemera has a name on it, this is the
place to start. If we don't have a listing for the name, please use the
search function to see if there is any mention of it on our site.
MANUFACTURES
* American
* Anker
* Beckwith
* Bradbury
* Bremer & Bruckmann
* Brother
* Boye
* Carver
* Cookson
* Coventry
* Davis
* Domestic
* Dorman
* Durkopp
* Eldredge
* Elna
* Essex
* European
* Finkle & Lyon
* Florence
* Franklin
* Free
* Frister & Rossmann
* Gray
* Greist
* Gresham & Craven
* Gritzner
* Grover & Baker
* Hengstenburg
* Hillman & Herbert
* Hopkinson
* Household
* Howe
* Hunt & Webster
* Hurtu
* Husqvarna - Viking
* Ideal
* Illinois
* Jackson & Sons
* Jones
* Judkins
* Kimball & Morton
* Kyte
* Lancashire
* Lester
* London Specialties
* Moldacot
* Muller
* Nasch
* National
* Necchi
* New Home
* Noble
* Nussey & Pilling
* Pfaff
* Pitt
* Pope
* Providence Tool
* Riccar
* Rockford
* Royal
* Sandt
* Sears
* Seidel & Naumann
* Sellers & Allen
* Shaw & Clark
* Singer
* Smith & Egge
* Solomon-Davis
* Standard
* Starley & Salisbury
* Stienfeld & Blasberg
* Stuart
* Thimonnier
* Union
* Union Special
* Victor
* Vulcan
* Wanzer
* Ward
* Wardwell
* Weed
* Weir
* Wheeler & Wilson
* Wilson
* Whight & Mann
* White
* Willcox & Gibbs
* Research
GENERAL INFORMATION
* Miscellaneous Sewing Machine Articles
* Sewing Machine Book List
* Graham's True Sewing Machine Stories
* Machine and Attachment Manuals
* Who Invented The Sewing Machine?
* When was my Sewing Machine Made?
* How much is my Sewing Machine Worth?
* Needle & Shank Information
* Shuttle Identification
* Research Links
* Frequently Asked Questions
* World's Most Expensive Sewing Machine
* The World's Most Expensive Toy Sewing Machine
TOY SEWING MACHINES
* Toys
* Toy Articles
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ABOUT US
* About the Society
* About this Site
* ISMACS News
ISMACS NEWS
ISMACS News is the magazine of the International Sewing Machine Collectors'
Society published four times a year for society members.
* ISMACS News Magazine
* Index of Back Issues
* Join ISMACS
* Email Digest
JOINING THE EMAIL DIGEST
The ISMACS Email Digest is the place to ask all your sewing machine
questions. You will be greeted by the internet's finest people and your
enquiries will be answered by leading experts.
Please note, joining the Digest does not make you a member of ISMACS. If you
wish to join and receive our quarterly magazine, please follow the Join
ISMACS links.
* Start the Sign Up Process
* Sample the Digest
* Join
JOINING ISMACS
The International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society is the premiere sewing
machine collector's group. A quarterly magazine and access to our annual
sewing machine auction are but two membership benefits.
* Join us Today
* ×
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RECENT ADDITIONS TO ISMACS
Wanzer Sewing Machine Company
The most successful of Canada’s sewing machine manufacturers was Richard Mott
Wanzer. R. M. Wanzer was born in upstate New York in 1818. After a career in
teaching, bookselling and, possibly, repairing sewing machines, he immigrated
into Upper Canada about 1859 and settled in Hamilton, Ontario.
Continue Reading
Season's Greetings
Richly decorated in gold leaf, the hand-painted robin and holly of his Bradbury
Family S No.1 adds a festive air to what must have been a very special Christmas
present for someone.
Continue Reading
The Darning Machine
A generation and more ago, most people mended socks and hosiery when they wore
through so that darning aids had a ready sale. In today’s world, most people buy
the latest fashion and discard clothes long before they are worn out. When did
you last darn tights or socks?
Continue Reading
William Jackson's Sewing Machines
One small scale manufacturer who remained faithful to the rotary hook principle
over many years was William Jackson. Jackson was a Yorkshire engineer who took
out his first patent for a large industrial free arm lockstitch sewing machine
in 1859 after he moved to London and was living in York Road, Lambeth. His
machine used a rotary hook mechanism copied from Wheeler & Wilson.
Continue Reading
The Shakespear Sewing Machine
Thomas Shakespear (no ‘e’ on the end of his name) and George Illston set up the
Royal Sewing Machine Co. in 1868 in Birmingham. George Illston ran the factory
and Thomas Shakespear looked after sales and marketing.T
Continue Reading
A Machine with a Story
Maybe wiped clean by now, but this machine once carried the fingerprints of
James Gresham - inventor and maker of the Gresham machines in the 1860s and
‘70s.
Continue Reading
Davis Vertical Feed Attachments
The needle feed system used by the Davis Company in its V.F. domestic machines
provided a reliable, positive action that ‘pushed’ the goods under the presser
foot while the needle was in the material.
Continue Reading
James Gresham
Charlie Hulme tracks down a sewing machine pioneer: the man, his life and times…
and some of his achievements. James Gresham was born on 28 December 1836, at 13
Castle Gate, Newark, Nottinghamshire, to Richard and Elizabeth Gresham. He had
an elder brother Robert and an elder sister Elizabeth.
Continue Reading
Sharp Practice
One of the problems of maintaining our old machines is keeping them supplied
with needles. Many sewing machine shops and repairers carry some old stock and
random supplies of old needles regularly appear on specialist sites and the
online auctions, but the classifications – which varied from manufacturer to
manufacturer – now seem very confusing.
Continue Reading
Serial Number Slide Chart
Singer's Serial Number Slide Chart allowing Family Shop owners to determine
machine age and market new machines to their customers.
Continue Reading
Caring for a Pet Lion
The Kimball & Morton ‘Lion’ sewing machine of 1868 may not be the rarest of
sewing machines but it is certainly the most bizarre British sewing machine. In
America, several figural machines were patented in the early days but none was
successful or as lifelike as this one. The ‘Lion’ was the only British entrant
in that class.
Continue Reading
History of the Pfaff Sewing Machine Company
Eleven years after Isaac Singer began producing sewing machines in the USA, a
young German instrument maker named Georg Michael Pfaff made his first sewing
machine. Although not the earliest of German sewing machine makers - Pfaff was
preceded by Clemens Müller of Dresden, in 1855 he proved to be a master
craftsman, and a far–sighted businessman.
Continue Reading
Early Singer Trade Cards
Trade cards became popular in the 1870s for local and national advertising.
Locally, an agent could use them as a business card to leave with customers and,
nationally, they helped to establish a brand.
Continue Reading
Singer's Class 15 'Improved Family' Sewing Machine
The Singer ‘class 12’ (12K in England) or ‘New Family' domestic machine of 1865
(Figure 1) was the foundation of Singer’s dominance of the sewing machine
market. It was the most successful machine of the nineteenth century and,
although Singer gave up manufacturing it in the 1890s, clones of it continued to
be made up until the 1930s. However, it was not the perfect machine!
Continue Reading
The True Likeness of a Princess?
In July 2006 a cast iron, figural toy sewing machine toy in excellent condition
turned up at an auction . . .
Continue Reading
To Protect and Conserve
It is difficult to know where to begin when asked about Glasgow Museums’ sewing
machine collection. It is so diverse, with so many jewels and there is so much
exciting research still to be done. What a wonderful dilemma to have, however. I
thought it best therefore to begin with my role in caring for the collection.
Continue Reading
History of the Moldacot Sewing Machine
Of all the mysteries surrounding early sewing machines and their makers, none is
stranger than those involving that delightful miniature - the Moldacot.
Continue Reading
John Langdon explains why some Singer Sewing Machines have two serial numbers.
Singer stamped its early machines with two numbers. Officially, what we know as
the serial number was called the ‘Register Number’ and, until the end of 1899,
it kept a running total of all the machines made by both the USA and Scotland
factories.
Continue Reading
British Singer Series Trade Cards
The Singer Company used paintings of birds, by Ridgeway, on a series of trade
cards current in America for 30 years. Copyright dates run from 1899 to 1930. A
similar series depicting British birds was circulated in Britain at the same
time.
Continue Reading
All British Trade Cards from Jones
Many companies issued morale boosting cards to their customers whose menfolk
were away at the war. Here are two issued by the Jones Sewing Machine Company
during the war.
Continue Reading
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ISMACS is an organization totally independent of all sewing-machine
manufacturers, past or present and is not affiliated with any of the companies
mentioned in these pages. Please Note: Do not contact any ISMACS official in an
attempt to solicit a valuation - it is not possible other than by hands-on
assessment and your request will be ignored.
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All rights reserved by ISMACS, under International and Pan American copyright
conventions. Reproduction or copy of this page, in any form, in part or in
whole, is strictly prohibited, without prior, written permission.