1903 Singer sewing machine
I stopped by a neighborhood sale down by the Little Spokane River this morning and brought home a treasure that was high on my wish list.
This 1903 Singer treadle sewing machine is a real find. The golden oak case is in excellent condition. It just needs a little polishing. All of the drawers and decorative trims are intact and I even got the original instruction booklet!
My great-grandmother had a sewing machine like this and it was sold with my mother's estate. I just didn't have anywhere to keep it so I had to let it go. I can't go back in time and get that machine, but I can keep this one around and think about my great-grandmother each time I look at it.
She was a tiny, but tough, little woman who lived to be 102. She was widowed in her 30s and raised 7 kids on her own, and survived two house fires that destroyed everything she owned. In a lot of ways she was my hero.


Cheryl-Anne Millsap is a free-lance writer and has been