Simply..sew?

26/7/2015

I can't walk past this window display in the city without gazing in and wondering about the history of all these sewing machines (and the waste of them all just being used as a window display).

There are about 8 windows like this! At least 1000 machines.

It seems a bit tragic somehow, and the fact that the shop sells ripped clothing for stupid prices makes it worse.....I wonder if their other branches have similar window displays.

It makes me a bit sad....

15 Comments

ChompyChipmunk

26/7/2015 08:08:35 am

It seems so. Here's a link to a series of photos of the Michigan Avenue shop in Chicago. Michigan Avenue is the main shopping street in Chicago and is known as the "Magnificent Mile".

http://retaildesignblog.net/2011/07/22/allsaints-spitalfields-at-michigan-avenue-chicago/

All Saints is inspired by goth wear,....and so is not for those who enjoy colour in their lives.

Freda

27/7/2015 01:39:16 am

Thanks for the link CC - interesting stuff!

Lucille link

26/7/2015 07:15:40 pm

Yes I have seen these window displays in London too. They struck me as very depressing. Like a graveyard for sewing machines.

Freda

27/7/2015 01:39:49 am

I was never into grunge!

elaine link

27/7/2015 01:16:11 am

What a wonderfully unusual display although it may look a bit depressing in real life.

Freda

27/7/2015 01:41:36 am

It is unusual and eye-catching - maybe I think too much!

Sarah link

27/7/2015 05:36:43 am

What a huge number of sewing machines! I have one just like it that I still use for my very occasional sewing projects. When my daughter visited Nepal they took over lots of sewing machines like these to give the women in remote villages to help provide them with a way of earning a livelihood. What a contrast it is to just having them on display like this! Sarah x

Freda

27/7/2015 06:28:39 am

That is what I'd rather see Sarah as I'm sure many of them are in working order...

Karen T.

31/7/2015 04:13:13 am

Wow, isn't the painted décor on these machines beautiful! It's sort of a museum exhibit. Maybe when the "exhibit" is over the machines will be donated. What a fantastic idea your daughter had, Sarah. A machine like this would be a great boon to a woman living with no electricity and wanting a way to earn a living.

julia

27/7/2015 05:54:10 am

such a thought-provoking post, freda. yes, what should we all do with thousands of these machines? as well as so much else that we do not use anymore...i see antique stores and junk shops here at the cottage, and they are full of stuff that no one wants.....what a shame!! in old shops, i look for vintage linen table cloths, napkins and tea towels. it is surprising to me that folks would rather use cotton or microfiber! i love using these old linens.

27/7/2015 06:31:05 am

Maybe it skips a generation to become 'antique' and therefore valuable again? Except to those like you who value them now.

ChompyChipmunk

27/7/2015 05:56:38 am

As much as it is a bit depressing to see them like this, especially associated with blatant consumerism, it's better to see them than imagining them all in landfill.

At least the way they are now, the designs can be appreciated and maybe they can be repurposed someday. In addition, some of them are really interesting looking

Freda

27/7/2015 06:32:54 am

To think of them as landfill fills me with horror - future archaeoligists would perhaps get very excited!

Swissrose link

27/7/2015 04:59:12 pm

I love these old machines. Most people don't appear to, for some reason. My grandmother used her hand-driven machine until she was 95 (4 yrs ago) and sewed all her life from the age of 10; just never got around to getting a treadle model - and no room for one! Now my daughter is a seamstress, she will inherit it when the time comes - still in good working order :)
A couple of years ago I was fascinated to see the big windows of a bank in Lugano full of old sewing machines, arranged chronologically, and recently read that there is a museum in Fribourg/Switzerland so must go and see sometime (and we live within a stone's throw of the Bernina factory!). My husband's grandfather was a sewing machine engineer in Germany, and had a patent on one of the stitches!
So sad if all these machines were to end up in landfill or scrapped - I believe the Russians were the last ones to be making a children's version of the hand-driven machine, but how great if these old models could all be used in places where there is no electricity for microloan-supported projects! Goodness, at the rate we're going with energy, we might soon be glad of them again ourselves…

Freda

28/7/2015 03:30:35 am

What a lot of interesting links you have with sewing machines! And you may well be right that we might want them again..

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