“And now, the Necchi push button Supernova marks the third and greatest advancement in modern sewing machines, and the third great advancement introduced by Necchi. The Supernova brings automatic sewing into a completely new era, because the skill is built right into the machine!” – Necchi Supernova manual – 1955
I wonder if the guys on the other side of the Alps might have taken issue with their Italian friend’s claims as the Swiss made Elna Supermatic was also an “automatica” although according to Necchi, these ran “like a phonograph”, as opposed to the Necchi’s ability to customize their “playlist” of cam selections.
With that being said, this is a machine we have wanted to add to the collection for many years and unlike many of the straight stitch Necchi models, they are quite uncommon, probably due to their stratospheric price tag back in 1955. When sold in a cabinet they cost the equivalent of nearly $5000.00 when you adjust for inflation, and even back then cost as much as half a year’s house payments.
Besides having fixed cams for specified patterns it also came with a rack of cams and holders that a user could customize to create their own pattern selections which is rather unique, and the machine is stretch capable like an Elna Supermatic which really set this machine apart, that and the incredible build quality.
The cam set with the long handle is for making button holes and it works rather well to select stitches and run things in reverse. the cover to the parts case has a selector wheel that shows you how to build up cam sets for specific stitches, and a good third of the manual describes many of the stitches that this machine is capable of.
She will be joining the permanent collection here as these are a notable example of 20th century machine development, and if you look at Japanese machine of the early 1960’s it is not hard to see where they got a lot of ideas.
Decided to name her “Gina” after another famous Italian… here she is after being serviced in our shop, most of which involved cleaning and oiling as there were no significant mechanical issues.
I have a Necchi Supernova (1955) that belonged to my mother in law. It runs like a top and is my every day machine. Only fault is there is no cam configuration given for straight stretch stitch. Has anyone found one out?
The lowest position on the cam controls the stretch feature, load the strtch cam and add spacers to the top and you should be good to go.