The Singer company specialised in making stylish sewing machines that graced the home.
Originally called I. M. Singer & Co., the Singer Company produced the first practical sewing machine for domestic use. The company started in 1851 and quickly grew until it was the largest producer in the world of these machines.
Old Singer sewing machines are things of beauty. They combined elegance with durability and practicality, and many are robust enough to have survived for more than a century. However, they were not just for use. The machines were often housed in cabinets that hid the mechanisms and became part of household furniture.
A few years ago an exhibition at the British Museum in London about the making of modern Egypt used everyday artefacts to tell the stories of the country’s ancient past and its influence today. One of the objects in the exhibition was a sewing machine, manufactured in Egypt, and another was a Singer sewing machine, decorated with Ancient Egyptian symbols. Ancient Egypt has been a source of inspiration and fascination for centuries; the Young V&A Museum in Bethnal Green in London is currently hosting an exhibition of exactly this at the moment. Since then the search has been on to find one of these old pieces for the collection.
This week one of those sewing machines came up for sale in, of all places, Greymouth, the town we live in on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is now proudly displayed in the front window of the new studio.
It is possible to tell the age of Singers by the serial numbers that are attached to the body of the machines. This one has the serial number S1566053 as you can see in the photograph. A visit to the database revealed that it was made in the United States sometime between January and June of 1907, and is a Model 27K. This is backed-up by the inclusion of the original booklet that accompanied these. the 27K was a variant of the Model 27 and was produced in Clydebank, Scotland. This factory boasted the largest four-face clock tower in the world with the name emblazoned high above the city streets. It also had railway lines, some four miles of it, connecting the different parts of the complex and onwards to outbound ports.
The machine that sits now in the studio is working, although it has not been tested extensively yet. With its decals of sphinx and intricate motifs in gold, it is A Great Find for the collection.
Comments
4 responses to “Egypt and the Singer Sewing machine”
My first ever machine was a Singer—65 years ago. Till I got it I was mainly a knitter but being a poor medical student and later mother of two children it got lots of use. I even remember making myself a floral PVC raincoat. Trendiest student around. I think the factory that made the sewing machines was on the Clyde near my home in Glasgow.
They are such good machines, aren’t they? I can imagine that they would have been real status symbols back in the day!
Singer is a few train stops along the train track towards Glasgow from where I live. There is not trace of the huge factory that once employed so many, including a few of my great aunts. We had one like this in the house growing up but my mum traded it in for a new singer machine for me when I was 13. They wouldn’t take it at uplift though and it ended up at the tip!! My “new” sewing machine is still going strong after 38 years at least !
Thanks for commenting Tracy. Isn’t it incredible how quickly the factory has disappeared. I really like the older machines. There is something about their no-nonsense sturdiness that appeals to me. Here is to your sewing machine lasting another four decades!