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Saturday, March 2, 2013

Curiosity sewed the thumb

My word associations from this week's photo prompt: 
boxes = Nanny McPhee and the big bang (2005 film)
skirt =  great-grandma Fortunata Paraiso Fronteras (I never saw her legs ever)
machine =  Singer sewing machine


A friend toured the house of the Marcoses in Luzon last week and she took this photo of an old sewing machine in one of their stops - Grandpa's Inn. We were telling fun stories on Facebook about how the pedal would move by itself in the dead of night. It looks so ancient, at least to us, that we just assumed it's haunted.


Does anyone know of a sewing machine brand other than Singer? I haven't seen any other, nor have I gotten around to finding the brand of the ones we see today. We had this sewing machine at home with a 'bloody' memory for me. Over the years it has served a different purpose - a table for flowers, the laundry, and sometimes stray books. Once a cousin hid a match of spiders in one of its built-in drawers.

I was about five years old when I thought of sewing one of my dolls a dress. The fact that Lydia, our bossy house help strictly told me not to get near the machine made me decide to have a go at it. Indeed "the most forbidden arouses the most curiosity." There was my chance at original designs; at creativity. Besides, how difficult could sewing be? I then snagged some cloth and began sewing. 

Rak - rak - garrraaakkk! The sound of my progress thrilled me. Pop went the plans. Next project would be a blouse for Velvet, our cat. And who knows what else? I was enjoying the process and so proud until I fed my thumb into the needle. Fast forward 36 years and this is now my thumb:


This sewing machine was my brunch table in JJ market. I didn't know the tables at that cafe were old sewing machines. My legs must have recognized what they were resting on, sent signals to my brain and whoa, what a reunion!

~ Head on over to Sepia headquarters for more stories. ~

21 comments:

  1. I have my great-grandmother's old Singer. I moved it into the garage over Christmas to make room for the Christmas tree and never moved it back in. Right now it's holding cases of drinks. I really need it back in the house though.

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  2. My husband told me that one of his greatest fears is me in front of a sewing machine. Turns out I'm not the most graceful of people.

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  3. My mother had a Singer on the back verandah, covered with pot plants, and another she used for sewing - she used her knee to push the speed control.

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    1. That's an interesting image - knee on speed control.

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  4. The Dentist, I attended as a child. had a treadle driven drill, it was slow and painful. I was told, by that dentist, I needed a brace to straighten the teeth, I still wait.

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    1. That's basic and brave. I never cared for braces despite being told I needed it.

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  5. I learned to sew on a Singer hand machine which my mother later had an electric motor fitted to. I made my wedding dress on that! Any stories about sewing (machines) get my vote as I love sewing almost as much as old photographs. These days I have a Juki AND a Pfaff (greedy eh?).

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    1. What a sweet memory - your own wedding dress made on your sewing machine. You're talented.

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  6. The Singer family is buried not too far from me and is going to be the subject of a post at the Graveyard Rabbits over the summer.

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  7. My mother-in-law had an old Singer that was in use until she died in the 1960s - I wonder what happened to that.

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    1. Looks like Singer dominated the sewing machine market. I could hardly spell Ppaff and don't have any idea how to pronounce it.

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  8. Oh, boy. My Grandma J. was a fabulous seamstress. I'll never forget the day that she ran the needle right through her her thumbnail. She had to take out the presser foot and Grandpa had to use pliers to pull it out. They worked as a good team, but dang, that must have hurt.

    She taught me to sew, along with my aunt and our neighbor lady. What patience they had. My aunt helped me make Barbie clothes for my sisters (rather tedious!)

    I have my sewing machine, my step-mom's mom's and an old one of Grandma's, but I don't think that any are haunted.

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    1. Ouch! pliers? big ouch! What a lovely story though. And that's right about patience. I never had the virtue for sewing - never learned the art well enough. Glad your sewing machines are not haunted.

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  9. Such wonderful old machines although I can still feel the pain of banging my ankle against the frame of the one owned by my wife years and years ago.

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  10. It has two spools. My first time to see that. Thanks, Brett.

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  11. I learned to sew on a machine in junior high home-ec class. Then my parents bought a nice Singer enclosed in a desk that I and my sisters used. My mother never even wanted to learn to use it.

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  12. I too learnt to sew on a Singer. They were very popular, particularly in USA. Other old brands were Wertheim and White Peerless. I have old handcrank models of these brands.

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  13. Ours when I was still a kid was a Singeer, too Zel. Unfortunately, one day my father turned into a monster and he picked it up and smash it to the ground. It turned to pcs and my mom's heart was torn to pieces, too! :(

    Paghulam ra anytime. :D

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