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International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society

The purpose of the International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society is to foster the collecting of, and research into, sewing machines.

A Machine With a Story

by Graham Forsdyke
A present from James Gresham; with the cover of an early ISMACS News.

A present from James Gresham; with the cover of an early ISMACS News.

Maybe wiped clean by now, but this machine once carried the fingerprints of James Gresham - inventor and maker of the Gresham machines in the 1860s and ‘70s.

The story starts in the 1870s when James was in Paris, perhaps partaking of the Grand Tour but more likely drumming up business for his sewing machine and locomotive injector companies, or looking to add to his art collection.

Whatever the reason for the trip he certainly got around despite having an artificial leg (built to his own design, of course).

He saw this very machine in a shop window and bought it to take home as a present for his daughter, Adah.

It remained in the family for the next 125 years before being presented to Maggie Snell by James Gresham, great grandson of the original James.

Front view of the Lackner Sewing Machine owned by James Gresham

Made by Lackner of Paris, the machine features top feed via the presser foot and a crude oscillating hook to produce a chain stitch.

Back view of the Lackner Sewing Machine owned by James Gresham

ISMACS is an organization totally independent of all sewing-machine manufacturers, past or present and is not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned in these pages.  Please Note: Do not contact any ISMACS official in an attempt to solicit a valuation - it is not possible other than by hands-on assessment and your request will be ignored.

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