How To Convert a Treadle Sewing Machine into a Spinning Wheel

all proceeds from this sale go to support rescued animals at The Llama Sanctuary thank you for your help

Treadle spinning wheel conversion

Made popular by the First Nations people of the Cowichan, in Southern British Columbia, the ‘Indian Head’ Spinning Wheel, as it has become known, utilizes the power of an old cast iron sewing machine treadle. To the best of my knowledge, these machines have never been commercially produced and the dozens, perhaps even hundreds of treadle-mounted, Indian Head spinning wheels have all been built at home …and they are all unique!

Having encountered and used quite a few of these machines, it was clear that they were all slightly different and that they all worked well. Even the less-skillful craftsmen managed to produce a functional spinning wheel. The only thing lacking has been a clear set of plans to enable anyone to make their own. That gap has now been filled right here.

The build-your-own spinning wheel package contains no fewer than twenty nine detailed diagrams, plus many close up photographs, as well as a detailed description of the various parts and their attributes.

This spinning wheel is perfectly suited to creating heavy/chunky yarns and especially art yarns, which are often lumpy, bumpy, uneven and frequently too large to fit through the narrow orifices of most commercially produced spinning wheels.

All this for a mere $20…

These detailed plans show how To build your own heirloom spinning wheel for only a few dollars, one which will be passed on through the generations and considered beautiful in centuries to come.

winding on super chunky corespun art yarn
outdoor spinning  extreme yarn spinning

There’s only one thing stopping you from jumping in and building your own – and that’s fear!  Fear that you aren’t good enough to build it or fear that you don’t know how.  With the Internet at your fingertips, there are thousands of people out there who willingly help others to achieve their goals.  We live in the age of information, but it doesn’t mean we can’t still be manually creative.

All proceeds from this sale go to support the rescued llamas and alpacas here at The Llama Sanctuary – thank you for supporting animals in need.