Camden was a new area of London for me to explore, I went there primarily to visit the markets but enjoyed the various sights on the High Street as well.
I've already written a post about my visit to the markets.
http://theresabigwideworld.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/camden-lock-markets.html
To get to the Lock markets from the Camden town Tube Station, you needed to walk up the High Street. It's a one way street lined with small shops, mainly clothing and souvenir stores. What makes the High Street interesting is how some of the buildings are decorated from the outside.
Just before arriving at the Lock markets I saw this store, it's a clothing store and those are old sewing machines, in the little window boxes. I loved the display, totally charmed by it.
A close up. I did think this display was solely for this particular store, but then I saw an All Saints store in Berlin that also had a sewing machine window display. So perhaps it's their trademark.
Regardless I loved the display as I have an old Singer sewing machine.
Mine, I looked up the design and I think it dates back to 1905.
My maternal grandmother gave me the sewing machine. It had belonged to an elderly neighbour of hers in Italy, she passed it onto my grandmother who decided that as I could sew and use a sewing machine (an electric one!!!) this particular machine would be for me. Her own sewing machine was earmarked for Eldest Grand-daughter, I'm Youngest Grand-daughter, but the 2 in-between don't sew. My grandmother moved apartments and so the sewing machine needed to be moved to my paternal grandmother's, the 2 grandmothers, then in their 70s took the practical route, the machine is on wheels so they wheeled it through the streets, the 2 of them pushing the sewing machine! I would have loved to have seen the expressions on people's faces as they walked along pushing a sewing machine between them.
Mission accomplished and sewing machine had a new home. I was left with the issue of how to get it to Australia. A few years later, my parents were in Trieste and I asked them to see if they could get the sewing machine shipped to Australia. And this is where creative practicalities came to the fore, Dad worked out that the whole thing could be taken to pieces, so they wrapped and boxed the individual pieces and then posted them one by one to me! Those bottom parts are cast iron and weigh quite a bit and yet they managed to post the lot! They spent a week posting the individual pieces and at the other end, much to the amusement of the staff at my local post office when I told them what I was collecting, I spent a week collecting the individual parcels and then waiting for my father to return to put them all back together!
Which he did and I have a lovely old sewing machine, which still has its original delivery tag (the brown tag on the trundle wheel) and some lovely memories of the problem solving abilities of my grandmothers and parents!
So old sewing machines bring a smile to my lips and this All Saints window display was perfect to me.
I've already written a post about my visit to the markets.
http://theresabigwideworld.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/camden-lock-markets.html
To get to the Lock markets from the Camden town Tube Station, you needed to walk up the High Street. It's a one way street lined with small shops, mainly clothing and souvenir stores. What makes the High Street interesting is how some of the buildings are decorated from the outside.
Just before arriving at the Lock markets I saw this store, it's a clothing store and those are old sewing machines, in the little window boxes. I loved the display, totally charmed by it.
A close up. I did think this display was solely for this particular store, but then I saw an All Saints store in Berlin that also had a sewing machine window display. So perhaps it's their trademark.
Regardless I loved the display as I have an old Singer sewing machine.
My maternal grandmother gave me the sewing machine. It had belonged to an elderly neighbour of hers in Italy, she passed it onto my grandmother who decided that as I could sew and use a sewing machine (an electric one!!!) this particular machine would be for me. Her own sewing machine was earmarked for Eldest Grand-daughter, I'm Youngest Grand-daughter, but the 2 in-between don't sew. My grandmother moved apartments and so the sewing machine needed to be moved to my paternal grandmother's, the 2 grandmothers, then in their 70s took the practical route, the machine is on wheels so they wheeled it through the streets, the 2 of them pushing the sewing machine! I would have loved to have seen the expressions on people's faces as they walked along pushing a sewing machine between them.
Mission accomplished and sewing machine had a new home. I was left with the issue of how to get it to Australia. A few years later, my parents were in Trieste and I asked them to see if they could get the sewing machine shipped to Australia. And this is where creative practicalities came to the fore, Dad worked out that the whole thing could be taken to pieces, so they wrapped and boxed the individual pieces and then posted them one by one to me! Those bottom parts are cast iron and weigh quite a bit and yet they managed to post the lot! They spent a week posting the individual pieces and at the other end, much to the amusement of the staff at my local post office when I told them what I was collecting, I spent a week collecting the individual parcels and then waiting for my father to return to put them all back together!
Which he did and I have a lovely old sewing machine, which still has its original delivery tag (the brown tag on the trundle wheel) and some lovely memories of the problem solving abilities of my grandmothers and parents!
So old sewing machines bring a smile to my lips and this All Saints window display was perfect to me.
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