“Mine can be run by hand when the power goes out.”
I learned to sew on a treadle Singer my Mom had. She made all my clothes until I went to college. One summer before graduating from high school, I took a Singer sewing course at their store and made a dress. I bought a Singer electric set in a French turned leg desk in about 1976 and made some of my clothes.
That fancy desk is about six steps from the chair I’m in now with the Singer inside. Just looking at the desk, wouldn’t know the machine is in there. I don’t know if it can be run by hand if power is out. I have the book for it, need to look at that.
In 1976, I would have never thought I needed to know if it would function by hand if necessary. Life was good in the 1970s-80s. No thought of the US crashing - no thought of a Marxist Muslim being president.
One of my Singers. It's the latest addition. It is motorized, but it will run on DC as well as AC.
I learned to sew on a treadle type. I don't know how many I've repaired over the years. My last ex-wife collected them.
I made a coverlet/quilt thing out of my old military uniforms with one of the sewing machines.
/johnny
My mother, who was enormously talented and resourceful, built a sewing table/desk that had a recess in one half of the top, so that the sewing level of her machine was even with the table top. The left side was hinged on the top, for a large storage area, then it had a shallow drawer under each side to hold thread, notions, etc. I have always thought it was the perfect sewing setup. I remember some of the older sewing tables would allow the machine to be folded down for storage, to look like normal furniture pieces. Sounds similar to what you have.