I have a friend who loves the Victorian period and recently acquired a 'period correct' Frister Rossman machine, dating from 1886. Fancy being able to sew perfectly on a machine which is 123 years old and has sewn the genuine article!!
I was inspired therefore to try and restore my own Singer dating from 1891 - she must have seen some real corset sewing action in her time, and corsets are my favourite thing to sew.
At 120 years old, she is once more in perfect working order. Amazing! You can see she's been well used in her time.
I wrote a tutorial about restoring a beat up old Vintage Sewing Machine, on my blog