The beautiful decals used on old sewing machines turned them from simple utility devices into true industrial art. On this page Treadle On is attempting to catalog all of the known decals used on Singer machines through the end of the "classic" period, approx. 1951.
These pages were made up from photos contributed by many Treadleonians. I would like to thank all of them. The pictures came in fast and piled up in such a backlog it was all I could do to just process and post them. I did not give separate attribution to each picture. I extend thanks here to all who contributed. The collection certainly is not meant to be complete. However, the pages have gotten about as large as I can afford, space-wise. I do recommend you visit as many sewing machine sites as you can· you'll turn up decals that aren't here.
Dick Wightman
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This set of decals is not named, as far as I know. This is a Model 115. |
Very typical 1950's decals, sometimes called Art Deco. This is a Model 201. |
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You are not likely to find this one! Pre-Civil War Letter A. The decals around the base appear as if they might be an early version of the cornflower design. |
This is another typical 1950's pattern, sometimes called "filigree". This is on a Model 15-88 Special Badged for the Canadian National Exhibition of 1939.
This is the badge from the above machine. |
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This is a very interesting pattern, sometimes called the "floating bird", also "RAF". It seems to be most commonly found on Model 15-96, in Canada and England. The bed picture is of a floating bird, usually considered an eagle. Note the lightning bolts on the arm. This pattern seems to date from just before and after WW II. |
This is a Singer Model 24 electric from the 1930's. I have not seen it's decal pattern on any other machine. It is rows of little scrolled flowers, shown below.
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The famous "Red Eye" or "Red Head". Singer Model 66, approx. 1906 to 1920 or so. I know of no other model that had these decals. |
This is the Model 66 with the Lotus, or sometimes called Thistle, decal. |
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Another example of fine filigree decals. This one on a very nice Model 99 hand crank. |
This is the very popular Memphis decal. Also known as Sphinx or Egyptian. This is a Model VS #2. |
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So it's not really a decal· sue me. This is a Singer New Family with the mother of pearls (MOP) inlay work. |
This is the more commonly found New Family, with the painted on gold leaf. |
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This is a Singer 9W1, the Wheeler and Wilson model, in the Celtic Knot decal. |
Singer 201K hand crank, pre-war. Note the little starburst decal· I have not seen this on any other machine.
Starburst decal on above machine. |
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One of the very pretty ;and popular decals, La Vincendora. Found, as far as I know, only on Model 28's. |
This is a very early Model 24, called "The Automatic". The decals here are the hand painted "cornflower" design. This machine dates from the turn of the century. |
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This is a 15-30 in what is commonly called either the Tiffany or Gingerbread decal. This decal is found on other models from the late 1800's to about 1910, as well. |
I suppose no exhibit would be complete without the Featherweight, even though it is well known. Here is a 1940 Special badge FW, San Francisco Golden Gate Exposition of 1940. The little Celtic Knot decal on the bed is quite lovely. The edge is outlined in the common Greek key motif.
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This is a very poor picture, but is a Model 128 in a decal that I have seen a number of times but don't have one of. I filed this off of the Internet. I don't know the name of this one, and obviously we need a better picture· |
This is another of the early hand painted designs, commonly called "Cornflowers". This is a Singer Improved Family· a very early version of the 15 Class machine, with a very strange action. It uses a round bobbin, but the bobbin is in a vertical arm that moves like a shuttle. |
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