Posted 2 years ago
lpags
(1 item)
Handed down- looking for information, I believe this was manufactured in 1938, that's all of the information that I can find. Appreciate any help thank you.
Antique singer sewing machine with table | ||
| AnythingObsc…'s loves438 of 9561 |  |  |
Hi, lpags. :-)
A vintage Singer, and an industrial model 31-39, no less. Cool.
Per the serial number tables at the International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society website, serial number AE969276 was one of a block of 3,000 consecutive serial numbers ([AE]968591 through [AE]971590) allotted by Singer's central office to one of its factories (in this case, Elizabethport).
All were intended to be stamped into the beds of model 31 sewing machine heads, starting April 19 1938.
The serial number tables typically don't get into the minutiae of minor model numbers, but the next block of consecutive serial numbers intended for some submodel of model 31 was allotted September 14 1938, so probably your particular machine had rolled off of the assembly line by that latter date:
AE- 968591 971590 31 3000 April 19 1938
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/serial-numbers/singer-ae-series-serial-numbers.html
AF- 056006 059005 31 3000 September 14 1938
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/serial-numbers/singer-af-series-serial-numbers.html
ELIZABETHPORT
AE series 1935 1938
AF series 1935 1938
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/singer_dating_by_serial_number.html
Singer model 31-39 was a fairly specialized submodel of sewing machine that was used to "darn" lace curtains (information from the ISMACS chart below has been reformatted to make it a bit more comprehensible here at Collectors Weekly Show & Tell):
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/model-list/images0-99/31-39.jpg
CLASS/ VARIETY: 31-39
DATES:
USAGE: Industrial
DESCRIPTION: For darning lace curtains. Small needle hole. NO FEED MECHANISM. Speed 1800.
NEEDLE: 16x73
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/model-list/classes-1-99.html
No dates are given on that page for the model 31-39, but a sorting of all extant serial numbers at ISMACS gave me a total of 937,511 model 31 sewing machine heads produced between 1900 - 1958. That's not just 31-39 submodels, but all 31 submodels.
The sense of the word "darn" used here isn't the same as most relatively modern (*cough*) people would use it, which would be to mend a hole in something such as a stocking, or a pocket on a pair of trousers.
Here is a bit of background on lace curtain darning:
*snip*
Distinct from all these geometric combinations was the lacis[61] of the sixteenth century, done on a network ground (réseau), identical with the opus araneum or spider-work of continental writers, the "darned netting" or modern filet brodé à reprises of the French embroiderers.
The ground consisted of a network of square meshes, on which was worked the pattern, sometimes cut out of linen and appliqué,[62] but more usually darned with stitches like tapestry. This darning-work was easy of execution, and the stitches being regulated by counting the meshes,[63] effective geometric patterns could be produced. Altar-cloths, baptismal napkins, as well as bed coverlets and table-cloths, were decorated with these squares of net embroidery. In the Victoria and Albert Museum there are several {21}gracefully-designed borders to silk table-covers in this work, made both of white and coloured threads, and of silk of various shades. The ground, as we learn from a poem on lacis, affixed to the pattern-book of "Milour Mignerak,"[64] was made by beginning a single stitch, and increasing a stitch on each side until the required size was obtained. If a strip or long border was to be made, the netting was continued to its prescribed length, and then finished off by reducing a stitch on each side till it was decreased to one, as garden nets are made at the present day.
This plain netted ground was called réseau, rézel, rézeuil,[65] and was much used for bed-curtains, vallances, etc.
*snip*
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/57009/57009-h/57009-h.htm
The image of a"darned" lace curtain in the gutenberg article is reminiscent of a crochet technique called "filet":
(Darned lace at Gutenberg dot org)
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/57009/57009-h/images/fig003.jpg
(Filet Crochet from wikipedia dot org)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crochet.jpg
About the Elizabethport factory:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/elizabethport
https://www.ericwilliamsblog.com/left-behind-in-elizabeth-the-singer-manufacturing-company-part-1/
https://www.ericwilliamsblog.com/left-behind-in-elizabeth-the-singer-manufacturing-company-part-2/
About Singer's big cabinet factory in Indiana:
https://orangebeanindiana.com/2019/06/12/south-bends-singer-sewing-machine-company/
In case I'm forgetting something, here is my collection of vintage sewing machine links:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/285089-help-for-vintage-sewing-machines
Very interesting! Thank you for your thoroughness!
lpags, A rather belated "you're welcome," and thank you. :-)
I learned some things as well, including solving a small mystery.
I was watching Billy Wilder's "Irma La Douce," and when I saw that coverlet on Irma's bed, I said to myself, "Darned lace":
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057187/mediaviewer/rm1685426433
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057187/mediaviewer/rm1635094785
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057187/mediaviewer/rm3796211712
I'd seen it on previous viewings of hte movie, and knew that it was unlikely to be filet crochet (it just didn't look like crochet), but didn't have a term for what it was. Now I do. :-)