Homage to Grandma

 This vintage sewing machine is from a tutorial by Sarah Cray for Let's Make Art. I was really happy, when she designed this lesson. I have a history of using a similar machine in 7th and 8th grade. Here's my grandmother's sewing machine.

 

When my grandmother was getting married, a salesman came to the door selling sewing machines and my grandfather couldn't resist and bought one. But grandma didn't sew! He never asked, so he didn't know! So it wasn't until my mom came along and learned to sew, that the machine was used. Later, after mom got married and had two daughters, she sewed our wardrobes. My mother made my pink sleeveless dress, which I wore under my high school graduation gown!

While I was in high school that machine came in handy for home economics. In 7th and 8th grade I took my sewing projects home to work on. One year it was a red top and the following year a matching skirt. 

The sewing machine was powered by a mechanism called a treadle, a pedal operated by the sewers two feet, causing a rocking motion. My problem was that no matter how I tried it made the machine go backwards. The seams on my red skirt were all done that way in reverse and no one knew!

This machine was painted with Winsor Newton Cotman tube colors on Canson 140 lb. watercolor paper. I used a gold Gellyroll metallic pen for the decorations on the machine. 

Challenges:

https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2021/03/march-2021-challenge-3-anything-goes.html

https://classicdesignchallenge.blogspot.com/2021/03/classic-design-challenge-for-march-2021.html 

https://morgansartworld.blogspot.com/2021/03/morgans-artworld-challenge-3.html

https://worldwideopendesignteamchallenge.blogspot.com/2021/02/world-wide-open-design-team-challenge.html