Pun of the week: Singer songwriter
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From George Takei, on Bluesky:
This left me in stitches.
— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) September 21, 2024 at 10:00 AM
Replies includes "I'm torn", "This is the kind of knit-wit I enjoy reading", "It's a race to the bobbin", "oh brother…", "I expect this thread to be patchy", "Rip it up!", "Needling us with dad jokes, eh?", "Were you hemming or hawing?", and this image, referencing George Takei's Star Trek role:
— DJ Maryalee Scarlet (@djmaryaleescarlet.bsky.social) September 21, 2024 at 10:46 AM
I know quite a bit about Singers (and other sewing machines), because I briefly worked as a sewing-machine mechanic between the army and grad school. But the history of the Singer Corporation is much more complex than I knew, since learning to "clean, oil, and adjust" Singer (and other) machines didn't require any information about corporate shenanigans — a lot of which happened after 1972 anyhow.
Sewing machines were a big part of American home life in the middle of the 20th century, because clothes were expensive, (some) fabric was cheap, and women were taught sewing skills in Home Ec classes (and/or in the home). In those days, fabric stores and sewing-machine stores were a common feature of small-town business districts and strip malls. I have the impression that all of this declined after 1970 or so, partly because of cheap imported clothing, and partly because of the changing role of women, so that sewing today is a (relatively rare) chosen craft, rather than an economic necessity.
But the Google Books ngram viewer shows a much earlier decline:
The plot for "English Fiction" shows a quite different trajectory, which is still not consistent with my stereotypes:
Google Scholar finds a large literature on sewing machine social history, including one paper (Marguerite Connolly, "The Disappearance of the Domestic Sewing Machine, 1890-1925." Winterthur Portfolio 1999) that helps explain that first graph:
Montgomery Ward Company seemed almost apologetic. In describing the merits of a full cabinet sewing machine in its 1912 catalogue, the company admitted, "You know that the sewing machine is not a very attractive addition to your parlor, bedroom or dining room furniture. The cabinet machine is. Inconspicuously it will fill a corner of a room, and when noticed, it is in words of admiration." When the cabinet of this model was closed, the sewing machine head dropped completely out of sight. By the early twentieth century it had become most desirable to hide the sewing machine. This desire for concealment was a product of the sewing machine's gradual loss of status, a process that began in the late nineteenth century and continued into the early twentieth. During this period, the availability of inexpensive machines as well as the emergence of the ready-made clothing industry resulted in the devaluation of the sewing machine in the minds of Americans, which led to its "disappearance" in American culture. Since it was no longer a status symbol, the sewing machine became an object whose use was assumed but not proclaimed-something akin to a wash-tub or broom. This, however, had not always been the case.
When the domestic sewing machine was introduced to American homes in the 1850s, it was heralded as a mechanical wonder that would transform the lives of women. The popular and influential Godey's Lady's Book called the sewing machine "The Queen of Inventions" and in 1855 proclaimed the sewing machine's indispensability to its female readers: "Every family in the United States ought to have one, and would if they only knew the saving and the quantity of work that can be done in a day …. The spring sewing or the fall sewing for half a dozen children loses its formidable aspect, when a yard of handsome and substantial stitching can be run off in two minutes." Five years later, the New York Times stated outright that the sewing machine was the "best boon to woman in the nineteenth century."
The sewing machine was hailed as a great labor saver in the mid nineteenth century because at that time sewing was a never-ending, time-consuming task for virtually every woman: farm and city dweller, young and old, rich and poor. The availability of yard goods, or fabrics sold by the yard, in unprecedented quantities contributed greatly to the ubiquity of home sewing. The industrial revolution had mechanized and transformed the fabric industry in both the United States and Europe by the early decades of the nineteenth century, and by 1850 power looms were creating vast quantities of fabric at prices that made yard goods available to almost everyone. Although fabric was now cheap enough to be fairly plentiful, it remained expensive enough to discourage waste, and American women spent a great deal of time and labor constructing, mending, and remaking garments and household linens.
So my impression of the history was half a century off — though when I was a child, local women still "spent a great deal of time and labor constructing, mending, and remaking garments and household linens", and the small strip-mall "sew vac" store where I worked for a while in 1972 had plenty of customers, and imported clothing has continued to get cheaper since then.
Update — For some social history more in tune with my memories, see Prudence Black and Jan Idle. "‘It was just something you did’: Mothers, daughters and sewing in the 1960s." Clothing Cultures 1, no. 1 (2013): 23-44.
Philip Taylor said,
September 24, 2024 @ 7:00 am
Born London, England, 1947, my earliest memories are of my late mother (a) darning socks (using a darning mushroom) and sewing or repairing clothes (using a Singer dewing machine). She made me an Elizabethan costume for a fency-dress event, insluding ruff .I think that she initially used a treadle machine but then inherited a manual version when her mother died. I do not know for sure the last year(s) in which she carried out these activities, but when I needed some clothing alterations made after meeting my wife-to-be in 1997, she asked her (Vietnamese) aunt to carry these out. I think that her aunt used an electric sewing machine (make unknown). Converted treadle sewing machines can still be found, being used as fancy tables, in coffee shops, etc.
Miggy said,
September 24, 2024 @ 7:43 am
Do you think that, in today's age, hand sewing is more common than mechanical sewing in North American households (especially within the younger population), since people sparsely have the need to sew, so the purchase of a sewing machine would hardly be justifiable or convenient?
Granted, sewing is likely at an all-time low, but I think hand sewing may have surpassed machine sewing, at least for the under-thirties who never grew up with a sewing machine in their homes.
NSBK said,
September 24, 2024 @ 8:19 am
Of course, a sewing machine is not just for (practical) clothing — for one data point, in high school a friend of mine learned how to use a sewing machine in order to make things for the robots in robotics club. And any sort of semi-serious costuming or cosplay likely requires some use of a sewing machine.
Anubis Bard said,
September 24, 2024 @ 8:39 am
It's not punny, but in Harrisonburg Virginia there used to be a shop that had a big red glowing Singer sign. If you were walking slowly around the corner at night it created an evocative little street poem. First the hiss of the "S"; then the Spanish affirmation of a "SI"; slipping back to a sour "SIN"; but then came the urgent "SING"; a few steps more warned, "SINGE" and finally wrapping up the journey with the complete and great glowing "SINGER."
J.W. Brewer said,
September 24, 2024 @ 9:12 am
I was in a transitional generation of American children where new notions of egalitarianism were invading the curriculum, such that when my cohort was in seventh grade (1977-78 academic year) all students in my school, boys and girls together, were required to take one semester of shop and one semester of home ec. And the home ec semester had a sewing unit in which we each needed to produce some very simple garment that involved inter alia use of a sewing machine (a kitchen apron but with pockets, maybe it was?) just as we each needed to produce some equally simple object (a tack hammer, I think) in the metal-shop unit the other semester. More advanced classes in both were available in later years on an elective basis, although I expect there was a heavy sex-linked skew in enrollment in the respective electives. By the end of high school me and some boys who were in my Latin class did use our rudimentary sewing skills to produce Roman-style tunics/togas etc. to wear at the big annual shindig of the state Junior Classical League.
Thereafter, of course, public schools in more affluent suburban districts largely abandoned both shop and home ec on the apparent theory that all of their graduates were going to go to college and make piles of money with which they would pay other people who had not gone to that school system to do anything that required the skills you might have learned in either shop or home ec. (No doubt there were also other factors, such as skyrocking insurance premiums for any sort of instruction that involved teenagers operating potentially injury-causing machinery.)
At the post-secondary level, Cornell University's School of Human Ecology (formerly the School of Home Economics, back when my maternal grandmother got her degree there 90 years ago) still offers two loosely sewing-related majors: Fiber Science and Fashion Design & Management.
Barbara Phillips Long said,
September 24, 2024 @ 12:20 pm
Some random observations about sewing history:
One of the factors affecting home sewing of clothing in the 1970s was the introduction of knit fabrics, particularly polyester double-knits. These required stretch stitches, or at least a simple zigzag stitch, so many existing sewing machines were rendered obsolete. The replacement machines were more expensive and more complicated, and many families could not afford them. In addition, the cost of some fabrics increased, making the investment in raw materials and time greater than the cost of inexpensive imported clothing in the U.S.
For many years, the amount of sewing I did was constrained by the time I had available outside work, particularly after we had children. Sewing around children can also be problematic because sewing requires space for laying out fabric and cutting and assembling the garment or project. Sewing also can be hazardous — pins, scissors, and rotary cutters need to be kept out of reach of children, and children need to be a safe distance from an operating sewing machine. Many sewing projects also involve ironing, so space is needed for an ironing board while sewing, and the hot iron is yet another hazard. Having more women in the workforce probably affected sewing’s popularity.
At some point I read an article that contended that many public schools shifted sewing machine budgets to fund computer purchases. I suspect the rise of knit fabrics and the increasingly casual fashions, such as the t-shirt and jeans combo, helped along the decline in home sewing. Denim was difficult to sew on the standard home machines at the time,
These days a basic sewing machine will offer some stretch stitches and one or two zigzag stitches in addition to straight stitches. It is not unusual to find multiple machines in one household where sewing is a hobby. A sewist may own a serger or an embroidery machine in addition to a sewing machine. Some have Cricut machines to cut fabric strips and shapes. A quilter may own a sewing machine (often with an even-feed feature) and also a longarm quilting setup. Many sewing machines work with customized software now. Antique Singer Featherweight machines were popular for a time with quilters who wanted lightweight machines to take to workshops away from home.
To add to J.W. Brewer’s comment about the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University, I would note that the college began as part of the land-grant mission of the university and the college is a part of the State University of New York. In addition to educating student on campus, it provided regular educational outreach aimed at women, including information on sewing, cooking and nutrition, child care, and more. In my grandmother’s time, this was called Home Demonstration, if I am remembering correctly. By the 1960s and 1970s, various outreach programs were administered through Cooperative Extension programs in most, if not all, New York State counties.
DCBob said,
September 24, 2024 @ 2:04 pm
My great-aunt, who was born in 1901 and lived to 2005, said that the the sewing machine was thr single most important invention in her lifetime because it not only made a middle-class standard of living on her own possible, but it also allowed her to dress as well as anyone else in the world with clothing she could make herself. She also said that womens' sufferage was the most important political deveopment. She said "That's when they started treating us like people."
Hector said,
September 24, 2024 @ 4:04 pm
I think a given quantity of fabric is more expensive than clothes made from the same now.
Tom Ace said,
September 24, 2024 @ 4:24 pm
Major league baseball pitcher Bill Singer had the nickname 'Singer throwing machine'.
Anthony said,
September 24, 2024 @ 9:38 pm
Nobody ever calls Mozart and Beethoven pianist composers, presumably because their composing outweighs their pianism. As a counterexample to this theory, many (not i) would rank Liszt higher as pianist than as composer, yet still not call him a pianist composer.
Julian said,
September 25, 2024 @ 12:56 am
To me a sewing machine is an almost magical thing.
How anyone could have got the idea that you could make a machine that could join two things together without pushing the needle right through the cloth …
I've looked at the animations on Wikipedia and it still fries my brain.
Peter Grubtal said,
September 25, 2024 @ 3:26 am
@Julian
For those with a technical bent, the history of the sewing machine is really interesting. A practical machine required three separate inventions (one, I think, was the spool with the second thread, one the cloth advance, and the other – I can't remember). Three different people held patents for the inventions (one of whom was the eponymous Singer). Fortunately, good sense prevailed and they formed a patent pool and manufacture could go ahead. I guess Singer got his commanding position through manufacturing and business nous.
Philip Anderson said,
September 25, 2024 @ 7:26 am
@Anthony
In Classical music, the composer is always more important than the performer, whether an instrumentalist or singer. In other genres, the singer is more important than the songwriter, but someone singing their own songs gets additional kudos.
It’s similar to the difference in status between a playwright and a film scriptwriter; Shakespeare gets a long string of quotes, but film quotes always get attributed to the actor who said them, not the person who wrote them.
J.M.G.N said,
September 25, 2024 @ 3:54 pm
@Philip Taylor
> fency-dress
What happened to your /'fænsi/?
Philip Taylor said,
September 26, 2024 @ 4:45 am
Typo. Following my recent open-heart surgery (replacement of aortic valve, 06-Sep-2024), I find that I am not only making more of those than I was pre-surgery but I am also making analogous errors of speech, something to which I think I was previously immune,
Francisco said,
September 26, 2024 @ 7:40 am
Older Singer machines were also quite presentable pieces of furniture with their mahogany tops and drawers, and could reside in the drawing room instead of being banished to the basement.
Terry K. said,
September 26, 2024 @ 4:06 pm
@Anthony
Nobody ever calls Mozart and Beethoven pianist composers, presumably because their composing outweighs their pianism. As a counterexample to this theory, many (not i) would rank Liszt higher as pianist than as composer, yet still not call him a pianist composer.
Nobody goes to hear Mozart, Beethoven, or Liszt perform live, nor listens to recordings of them. What remains with us is their compositions. Whereas, if I'm going to hear someone perform their own songs, or listening to recordings of them performing, the fact that they are a singer, not just a songwriter, is rather significant.
J.M.G.N. said,
September 26, 2024 @ 6:25 pm
Wish you a full recover friend.
I thought Brits were immune to the American typos from the pin-pen merger (especially for the pari than/then).
David Eddyshaw said,
September 26, 2024 @ 7:56 pm
I well remember the Singer railway station from when I was a kid in Glasgow. I never actually made the connection with Singer sewing machines until now (I was a slow child …)
Philip Taylor said,
September 27, 2024 @ 4:38 am
Thank you, JMGN. Regarding the typo, perhaps my mind was formulating the phrase in high-RP, whence /ˈfensɪ/ !