The New High Arm Davis Vertical Feed Sewing Machine (VF2 No.2)

I found another treasure today while Louie and I were out junkin’. We went to the Quad Cities today to do several errands and went junkin’ while we were at it. (WHAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT?????  Well, wouldn’t YOU have?)

The first couple stores we went to left us empty handed, but then we went to Bettendorf, and I said to Louie, ‘I’m going to fill my cart in here!’ I went back to where I always start, and I found a Davis sewing machine. This one was a little different in shape and what really caught my eye was that it was sitting in a wooden platform. At first I thought maybe it was a ‘fiddle base’ sewing machine, but it wasn’t. It didn’t matter. I wanted it. It only took me a nano second to decide to get it. I am showing you the cleaned up version first.

I had to set it on a divided stack of quilting magazine that I also bought today, because the arm that moves underneath the bed of the machine sticks down lower than the ends of the machine. Louie is going to build me a wooden ‘skirt’ so it can sit on a table. It is a treadle machine, and obviously there is no treadle to go with it, but I have no intention of sewing with it, although, when it sits on it’s own, I might try threading it and making some stitches with it, just by turning the wheel by hand. It has the long shuttle bobbin, and if you look closely, you can see one bobbin in the bobbin winder on the front of the machine. (You know the drill…click photos to enlarge).

Ok, now I’ll give you the ‘dirt’ on it. It wasn’t as dirty as my Red Eye, but dirty. I did get the decals to show up a little bit better. While I was cleaning with Gojo, I didn’t know if I was trying to unbury the decals or rub them off, so I just quit before I did any more damage.

I don’t know if you can tell or not without enlarging this picture, but the removable cover on the back is painted black and decaled. Later models had covers that were silver and usually embossed. From what I can tell, this machine was from the 1880’s. Davis Sewing Machine Company went bankrupt in 1924, so I know that is it well over 100 years old.

The unique thing about it is, that it has no feed dogs. This machine is called a Vertical Feed machine, and if you watch this video, you will see why. It is also called a walking foot machine, but the technical name for it is The New High Arm Davis Vertical Feed Sewing Machine. I found a pdf manual for free online for the earlier model. The machine in the video is not the exact same model as mine, and my machine does not have backtack (reverse) like the machine in the video, but it is the same as far as sewing and advancing the fabric. It’s really pretty neat!

I found another treasure today! A Fiesta Cobalt Disk Pitcher. I have wanted a Fiesta Pitcher for a long time. Now, I would not have chosen Cobalt blue, but I love it anyway. I probably would have chosen Orange had I bought it somewhere else, but it found me, so it’s Cobalt.  I love it, love it, love it!

Louie and I had a lot of fun today, and we found some other treasures but they will have to wait for another day. I hope you had fun today too.

Be blessed!

Michelle