Helvetia

Helvetia free arm

Straight stitch sewing machine.

Made in Switzerland.

Circa 1954.

I acquired this machine in November 2024.

I had been wanting a red version of this machine, ever since I started collecting vintage machines. They turn up from time to time, but I had my heart set on a red one, with nice paintwork. I had heard these are not a particularly good machine to use. Therefore, I decided early on that I would only get one. They came in three colours, cream, dark green and a deep red. So I was waiting for a red to appear. This one was listed on FB marketplace and reduced from $60 to $20, so I decided to take a chance on it, even though it looked very dusty in the photos, I was hopeful that the case had protected it from corrosion. I could see it had no table and was missing any accessories, still the price was right. Bonus it was in the same suburb as one of my grown up children, so my son promptly collected it for me.

All the photos of the machine were from the front, so it was pot luck. I could see that the white pedal was broken and I had seen these white ones broken in the past. I did not mind, as the Helvetia decal looked good and I was hoping that the other imperfections to the paint were only superficial and hopefully just dirt. The chrome areas, such as the presser foot looked shiny and not rusty. I was hopeful. Even if I could never get it to work, I would have one example of this machine.

The instruction manual for the machine I have had for quite a while, waiting for the day that I added this machine to my collection. For a free copy of this manual you can downloaded it from my google drive in pdf format from here.

Update August 2025

Finally got a chance to dust this machine off, unfortunately the thread spring broke off right away, so I doubt I’d be using this machine any time soon, but still I would say it could be saved at some point in the future. It turns over smoothly and even though it has some surface paint missing, it still looks o.k. I do love the wooden base. I’m guessing I will keep an eye out for a complete machine if one comes my way. I’d love to have the green one.