This happened in February of 2022.

My fiancé and I were browsing the thrift store when we noticed a table with a box on it. Curious as to what was inside the box, we lifted the lid and discovered that it was a sewing machine. A Singer sewing machine to be exact.

Being that it was a thrift store, the price on the machine was extremely low compared to motorized sewing machines. The wood was original, with minor wear and tear, and it still had what I would assume to be the original leather belt, connected to the mechanism responsible for operating the sewing needle. The iron was slightly worn and rusted, but just from a glance we could tell that a lot of work had been put into shaping the legs and the pedal responsible for operating the machine.

When we got home we tried using the machine, and it worked for the most part. The only issue was that it was a bit difficult to use. The sewing mechanism is manually operated which means that you constantly need to be pedaling if you want the machine to sew, which can become tiring quickly. After examining the machine it appeared as though the main reason it was difficult to operate was due to the way the mechanical components interact with the leather belt. We went online and saw that there was a rubber/synthetic replacement for the belt.

While here, we thought we should probably get more information about the machine. So we did a little bit of research online. We found that the machine was created between the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s. Looking at the current online prices, it looks like people are trying to sell similar machines online between $500 and $1,200 dollars. The only difference is that this machine doesn’t have the “Singer” text between the two iron legs. Pretty crazy to think that we only spent a few bucks on it. I would imagine this feels similar to the feeling that people get on the shows where they take their items to get them appraised.

That being said, it’s been sitting beside the bed as an oversized table for the most part. Maybe one day I’ll replace the leather belt with a rubber version to make it easier to operate. In the meanwhile, I’ve bought a new sewing machine as a Christmas present for my fiancé, it’s Singer brand as well, and it has quite a few cool features that make life a lot easier compared to the antique version. Maybe I’ll post about that machine in the future!

The world currently operates by utilizing electricity to power everything. In the past, this wasn’t the case. It’s interesting to think about how the world was in the past, and whether all these changes have made life better or worse. Now we have to rely on someone, somewhere, making the materials that we need, then another person using the materials to make something, and then another person to sell us these products. At the same time, there are people that have to ship the goods from one place to another, and then the need to create these machines that ship these goods. In a nutshell, that’s the supply chain. We wouldn’t have the things that we have today if it weren’t for its existence. We get to benefit from the combined expertise of a large number of people, as well as economies of scale.

But at what cost?

I think that wraps it up for today.I know I only put in a couple pictures in this post, maybe in a future when I’m talking about the new machine I can include some more pictures of this machine.

Thanks for reading, see you next time!