the story

During the summer of 2023 I received a 1911 Singer treadle machine from someone who wanted their machine to go to a person who would actually use it. it ended up being the machine I used to make my wedding dress and the subject of a small short film that won an award at our town’s small film festival. I am continuously amazed by how this machine’s story is a part of a larger historical narrative embedded within women’s work, capitalism, industry, technology, and labor rights.

recently I started doing a search on treadle machines for sale. To my disappointment, many of them were being sold as home decoration pieces: as plant stands, television stands, end table stands - I have even found some left at the local dump! as cultural studies scholars and historians we study material culture not just for their aesthetic value, but more importantly for what they have to tell us about people, places and the relationships that define who we are and where we are. Seeing these treadles for sale as plant stands made me realize that an entire history of labor rights, hand skills, factory workers, women’s stories, and many other unacknowledged voices were collecting dust right along with the machine itself.

so I had this idea: what if I taught people how to use a treadle machine? what if I researched them, gave a presentation on their history, explained what the treadle’s moment in time actually means within our contemporary context? and what if, after these people take a few classes with me on history and practice, they actually get a newly restored treadle machine to use at home, to keep writing its story, to keep the memory of its history alive?

the project

the goal of this project is to engage people with the history and function of treadle machines and to restore old treadles to working order. there are two components to this project: (1) 4-6 people by may 2025 learn how to use a treadle machine through a grant-funded course with me on the treadle machine. At the end of the course they will receive a free and ready to use treadle machine complete with its history and manufacturing information. (2) I plan to offer free public programs at local libraries on the history of the treadle within the context of labor rights and women’s history.