04/08/2026
SOLD SOLD SOLD
🦗 VINTAGE TREASURE ALERT: Swiss Elna “Grasshopper” Sewing Machine – 1951 🦗
Sewing machine collectors, this one’s for you! The Havelock Charity Shop has just been gifted a beautifully preserved 1951 Elna “Grasshopper” — and she’s a real piece of sewing history.
Made by Tavaro SA in Geneva, Switzerland, the Elna 1 (nicknamed the “Grasshopper” for its distinctive olive-green colour and insect-like silhouette) was the world’s first portable free-arm domestic sewing machine — a genuine game-changer when it launched, and one that influenced sewing machine design for decades after.
✨ What makes this one special:
🧵 In very good condition for its age
🧵 Comes with original tool and extra presser feet
🧵 That famous fold-out knee-bar speed control
🧵 Case doubles as a slide-out sewing table — clever Swiss engineering!
🧵 Solid, smooth-running mechanical machine — no manual included, but these are much loved and well documented among collectors online
These machines are increasingly sought after by vintage sewing machine collectors and restorers worldwide, and finding one in this condition, with extras, is a lovely bit of luck.
💰 $200 — available now at Havelock Charity Shop, 64 Main Street, Havelock (behind Havelock Takeaway), open 10am–3pm.
Come in and see her for yourself — first in, first served! No Holds.
