Singer Sewing Centers
- Thread starter retromania
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Lending out your sewing machine-guess is just as forbidden as a hunter lending out his favorite rifle or hunting knife!Yes,I do the curtain thing-but get the factory ones-they aren't wide enough for my window-so got the panels I needed-then sewed them together with the yard sale Necci-worked just fine.when I mentioned the making or sewing of curtains to Mike at the Sew&Vac store-thats when he showed me the commercial Pfaff that could go to 1800 stitches per minute!-that is almost too fast-yes it could sew MILES of cloth in a short time.And of course when you set the tensions of your machine you don't want someone else to mess it up.At some point will try the curtains from scratch.The making of clothes does sound scary!!My Mom did it when I was a child-she made clothes for herself,and us kids.She used the various brands of patterns-sort of remember her pinning the paper pattern to the cloth-then cutting the parts out-and sewing them together.
whirlcool
Well-known member
I remember the JCPenny store we used to shop at when I was a kid had a huge selection of Simplicity patterns to choose from. My mom would buy her patterns there sometimes.
Believe me, after that loan out incident with our sewing machine it has never been loaned out again. What was that woman who we loaned the machine to thinking?
We didn't have any patterns when we made the slip covers for the chairs & sofas in our den. We had to do that ourselves. We used brown paper bag material for that. But those slip covers fit almost as good as the original fabric does. And 25 years later they are still giving good service. We wash them 3 or 4 times per year.
Believe me, after that loan out incident with our sewing machine it has never been loaned out again. What was that woman who we loaned the machine to thinking?
We didn't have any patterns when we made the slip covers for the chairs & sofas in our den. We had to do that ourselves. We used brown paper bag material for that. But those slip covers fit almost as good as the original fabric does. And 25 years later they are still giving good service. We wash them 3 or 4 times per year.
retromania
Well-known member
Brings back memories....
This all brings back memories of my childhood days. My mother was an easy-going mother, but don't touch her machine. She would say: "I've got eveything set up just like I want it!" I'm 50 and my sister is 58. She went thru a little chubby period when she was about thirteen. Since there was no ready-to-wear for chubby girls or guys too I guess for that matter, my mother sewed all her clothes. That's when my mother bought the buttonholer for her old machine. I remember and old machine and a modern attachment in the turquois box. Anyway, sister out grew her chubbiness and Mom then sewed her formals for the high school dances. After my dad died and my mother went back to teaching, she only sewed in the summer and it was usually curtains or slip covers. The last thing she sewed before going into assisted-living four years ago was a poodle skirt for my sister to wear to her job when they had a 1950's day. Babble. Babble. Babble. Sorry y'all!
This all brings back memories of my childhood days. My mother was an easy-going mother, but don't touch her machine. She would say: "I've got eveything set up just like I want it!" I'm 50 and my sister is 58. She went thru a little chubby period when she was about thirteen. Since there was no ready-to-wear for chubby girls or guys too I guess for that matter, my mother sewed all her clothes. That's when my mother bought the buttonholer for her old machine. I remember and old machine and a modern attachment in the turquois box. Anyway, sister out grew her chubbiness and Mom then sewed her formals for the high school dances. After my dad died and my mother went back to teaching, she only sewed in the summer and it was usually curtains or slip covers. The last thing she sewed before going into assisted-living four years ago was a poodle skirt for my sister to wear to her job when they had a 1950's day. Babble. Babble. Babble. Sorry y'all!
There still is one here in Cork, Ireland although I suspect it may be simply historic branding on an independent store.
They've loads of classic old sewing machines in the front window and seem to still do service and repair machines.
There's probably been a bit of a resurgence of sewing as a hobby here. I know quite a few creative types (mostly female) who make really crazy stuff for their own personal wardrobes.
They've loads of classic old sewing machines in the front window and seem to still do service and repair machines.
There's probably been a bit of a resurgence of sewing as a hobby here. I know quite a few creative types (mostly female) who make really crazy stuff for their own personal wardrobes.
Here's the Google Street View if you want to take a closer look
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It Is Worth Pointing Out
That at one time the Singer Company was the "Apple Computer" company of it's day making the family quite wealthy. The Singer family includes some colourful and or infamous members including a lesbian daughter that married into French nobility (a "white" marrige as her husband was gay and the whole thing was arranged for show), along with all that comes from having that much wealth.
Singer Company's North American headquarters was a beautiful "skyscraper" (one of the first buildings to be deemed such) located in lower Manhattan on what is now called Liberty Plaxa. Built in 1908 it was torn down in 1968 much to the dismay of many.
It also cannot be understated the wealth created from the invention of the sewing machine and how it changed lives all over the world.
Prior to the mechanical sewing machine coming along all clothing was stitched by hand. That and or one was literally sewn into a garment/fastened together via pins or what not. This meant only the very wealthy had any wardrobes of any size especially of outer garments because they could employ person or persons to run things up. Everyone else had to make do with one or two things they wore until it became rags, or cobbled together hand-me-downs, saved up to have something made (usually even then for special events like marriage), and so forth. If you ever get a chance to examine "older" garments you'd likely see they were altered (let in , let out, etc..) many times.
As with most everything else that went on "inside" the home it usually fell to females to handle the sewing and or mending of a families garments. Considering everything else they had to do there often just wasn't enough hours in the day.
Be they operated by hand, treadle or later electric power the domestic sewing machine literally changed the world. In the commercial area it meant clothing now could be mass produced (often in those ghastly sweat shops like the Triangle Shirtwaist Company), and while often still expensive it was cheaper than having everything done by hand.
Today of course those with funds pay dearly for totally and or mainly stitched by hand garments. French "haute couture" can run into the thousands for a simple skirt suit to hundreds of thousands for a gown.
A sewing machine and being skilled with it's use also was a means of financial independence especially for women when few other chances were open.
Time was a widow or other woman in reduced circumstances would be given a mangle/take in washing, but a sewing machine and setting one's self up as a dressmaker/seamstress could provide a decent living.
Small portable machines like the Singer Featherweight allowed a seamstress to travel and set up shop in a customer's home. You might be hired for a few days to run up/mend a household's linen (bed, table, etc..), or do alterations/mending of garments especially for the children.
Finally speaking of children it was because of the sewing machine and the ability to produce clothing quickly and or inexpensively (compared to hand sewing) that the custom of putting young boys into dresses until they were "breeched" gradually came to an end.
Due to the high cost of clothing and the sadly often equally high rate of infant/child mortality most all garments for the nursery were unisex, that is dresses. It simply was deemed to expensive in both time and funds to purchase/make clothing for boys or girls when you didn't now how long the child would live. Also dresses are easier to alter (let out, take in, raise or lower hems) than pants so things could be reused for subsequent children/babies or passed on.
en.wikipedia.org
That at one time the Singer Company was the "Apple Computer" company of it's day making the family quite wealthy. The Singer family includes some colourful and or infamous members including a lesbian daughter that married into French nobility (a "white" marrige as her husband was gay and the whole thing was arranged for show), along with all that comes from having that much wealth.
Singer Company's North American headquarters was a beautiful "skyscraper" (one of the first buildings to be deemed such) located in lower Manhattan on what is now called Liberty Plaxa. Built in 1908 it was torn down in 1968 much to the dismay of many.
It also cannot be understated the wealth created from the invention of the sewing machine and how it changed lives all over the world.
Prior to the mechanical sewing machine coming along all clothing was stitched by hand. That and or one was literally sewn into a garment/fastened together via pins or what not. This meant only the very wealthy had any wardrobes of any size especially of outer garments because they could employ person or persons to run things up. Everyone else had to make do with one or two things they wore until it became rags, or cobbled together hand-me-downs, saved up to have something made (usually even then for special events like marriage), and so forth. If you ever get a chance to examine "older" garments you'd likely see they were altered (let in , let out, etc..) many times.
As with most everything else that went on "inside" the home it usually fell to females to handle the sewing and or mending of a families garments. Considering everything else they had to do there often just wasn't enough hours in the day.
Be they operated by hand, treadle or later electric power the domestic sewing machine literally changed the world. In the commercial area it meant clothing now could be mass produced (often in those ghastly sweat shops like the Triangle Shirtwaist Company), and while often still expensive it was cheaper than having everything done by hand.
Today of course those with funds pay dearly for totally and or mainly stitched by hand garments. French "haute couture" can run into the thousands for a simple skirt suit to hundreds of thousands for a gown.
A sewing machine and being skilled with it's use also was a means of financial independence especially for women when few other chances were open.
Time was a widow or other woman in reduced circumstances would be given a mangle/take in washing, but a sewing machine and setting one's self up as a dressmaker/seamstress could provide a decent living.
Small portable machines like the Singer Featherweight allowed a seamstress to travel and set up shop in a customer's home. You might be hired for a few days to run up/mend a household's linen (bed, table, etc..), or do alterations/mending of garments especially for the children.
Finally speaking of children it was because of the sewing machine and the ability to produce clothing quickly and or inexpensively (compared to hand sewing) that the custom of putting young boys into dresses until they were "breeched" gradually came to an end.
Due to the high cost of clothing and the sadly often equally high rate of infant/child mortality most all garments for the nursery were unisex, that is dresses. It simply was deemed to expensive in both time and funds to purchase/make clothing for boys or girls when you didn't now how long the child would live. Also dresses are easier to alter (let out, take in, raise or lower hems) than pants so things could be reused for subsequent children/babies or passed on.
Winnaretta Singer - Wikipedia
athanasius80
Well-known member
Well with at least 20 kids, there's bound to be some entertaining exploits. Winnaretta Singer married nobility twice. The second one seems to have been a loving, albeit not erotic relationship. And her brother Paris Singer had a child with Isadora Duncan.
They got around.
They got around.
Large paper patterns-you could use wrapping paper-or when Newspapers were a DECENT size-not the wimpy size things you see now-you could get a "tail" roll of newsprint to make patterns or drawings on-worked great in woodshop class.And the paper made a makeshift projection screen!The tail rools at that time were like 6 ft wide.They are much smaller now-not as useful.
