A warm, sunny, afternoon near the end of May I had just nipped out of the office to buy some milk and a sandwich. Next to the supermarket in the village where I work there is a charity shop and I can never resist a quick look. Out on the pavement was the unmistakeable shape, black japanning and gold decals of a vintage sewing machine. I had to crouch down and have a little look. All seemed to be there (always check for a shuttle and a couple of bobbins if you see a vibrating shuttle machine for sale) and not in bad condition. Take a deep breath, consider the cupboard space to sewing machine ratio of one's domicile, exhale with relief because there is no visible price tag and walk away from the vintage sewing machine. When I returned to the office I told the team all about the sweet little sewing machine I had seen and how very proud I was of myself for not buying it, for not even asking the price.
A few days later it was my birthday and, prior to my arrival at work, my colleagues placed a large parcel covered in floral furnishing fabric on my desk. Under the cloth was the machine from the charity shop. My boss had gone out that very afternoon and bought it. She had hidden it at her home for about a week before surprising me with it! She is, needless to say, a very good boss. A brilliant birthday present because the machine needed the usual cleaning and tinkering with as a project so hours of fun before I even got sewing - the gift that keeps on giving right?
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| Victoria Sewing Machine |
The Victoria is obviously one of the many 'badged' variants of the Jones' Family Cylinder Shuttle sewing machine. The story that wholesale machines were badged with whatever a retailer fancied is pretty well known. The most common is probably 'Federation' for the Co-operative Wholesale Society and, my secret favourite, 'The Lee' for G H Lee of Liverpool. There are a handful of Victorias pictured on the Internet, so they're obviously not that rare, but not much in the way of information about them. I would love to know more about the Victoria brand and where they were sold if anyone out there has and information.
