SINGER 15-88 Treadle in 7 drawer Table

October 17, 2022

SINGER 15-88 Treadle in 7 drawer Table

Antique Singer 7 drawer table, fitted with a Singer 15-88 sewing machine.

The family of an elderly tailor, asked if I had any working treadle sewing machines they could buy for their uncle, to help bring him out of his depression, since his wife had died, and he had not been able to bring his treadle machine, when he immigrated to the USA.

The old oil on the faceplate, only shows yellow, with camera flash.

Notice the seam guide and thumbscrew lying upside down, at the back of the machine. These are very helpful, when attached to the machine bed, to help get a perfectly even seam. Especially helpful when shirring, with the shirring foot.

To shirr, attach shirring foot, and use thumbscrew to attach seam guide at the seam width you want your shirring. Then set machine stitch length to longest stitch length, and tighten your upper tension.

The tighter the tension, the more gathers you get. Remember to reset your tension, after completing your gathering.

Singer 15-88 with a set of presser feet, thumbscrew for seam guide, shirring foot, adjustable zipper/cording foot, binding foot, =olled hem foot, edge stitcher, adjustable hemmer (for wider hems) ruffler, and large and small screwdrivers.

Singer 127VS was originally in the 7 drawer table, but the tailor preferred a machine with calibrated stitch length, and reverse, so I chose a 15-88 from my "herd" of machines, and installed it in the 7 drawer table, set up with a treadle belt.

This table appears to have a buildup of Pledge furniture polish, and is the most beautiful treadle table I've had, but was only the table, and a 127VS with heavily worn decals, missing pieces, and no treadle base.

The treadle base was gifted to us, to save it from going into the landfill. Luckily, I found the original Singer screws to attach the treadle base, among the boxes of scrap metal parts gifted to us, from a "sewing machine tractor sculptor, in South Carolina. My hubby and son drove a 4 hour round trip, to save 4 boxes of antique sewing machine metal parts.

I fixed many machines with the 4 boxes of parts, then passed on the excess, to members of the North Carolina TreadleOn group, on Facebook, when my health declined too much to keep fixing up machines.

SINGER 7 drawer table with tip out tray/drawer

Pledge buildup is what causes the slick shiny surface, and yellowing to the shellack, which is the natural finish on the antique treadle tables.

I am not sure, but it almost looks like a former owner may have painted with modern black paint, over the original asphalt finish. Since the treadle base was free to us, we didn't complain, it gave us a way to save this beautiful 7 drawer table we had been storing for years, before finding the base.

SINGER 15-88 SEWING LEATHER size 18 needle

I accidentally called the 15-88 a 115 in this video, I think...

SINGER 15-88

The 15-88 has an oscillating bobbin hook system

Singer 15-88 sewing machine in a treadle table, shown sewing leather with a size 18 sharp needle.

This machine was set up in a 7 drawer treadle table, specially, for a tailor who immigrated to the USA, and his wife had passed away, leaving him very depressed. His family had purchased a more modern sewing machine from me, and upon seeing my 15-88 treadle, begged me to sell it to them, for this uncle.

I didn't have another complete treadle table and machine, at the time, but the story of their uncle, touched my heart, so I took my best 7 drawer treadle table, which I had intended to keep for my 127VS Sphinx model, and had my hubby install this extra Singer 15-88 head, so their uncle would have the same model he was used to, with calibrated stitch length, reverse, and a 15 style bobbin.

The uncle was so excited, when he sat down to test sew, he had tears in his eyes. He made that treadle FLY! I included a set of presser feet, and a large size printout of the manual, and gave them a bargain price.

I LOVE my machines going to someone who will USE them, and LOVE them!

7 drawer table closed

Decorative plaster applied to drawer cover

Singer 7 drawer treadle table closed

Decorative emblems are not carved wood, but are molded plaster, painted to match the wood. The industrial age was a time of great inventiveness, and molded plaster was put heavily into use, both on furniture, and in architecture.

Many sellers will claim these are solid oak, or whatever wood type a table appears to be, but once industrial production kicked into gear, veneer glued over plywood, or less expensive woods, with decorative plaster molds. This made beautiful furniture 0much more affordable, but most people still had to buy their sewing machine and table, on a long term payment plan.

If payments weren't made, the machine and table were repossesed, as is seen on many antique, or vintage sewing machines, since a sticker documenting this, was often applied to the machine base. There are also machines with rental stickers on them.