My vintage pet peeves: eBay edition

While I may not attend reenactments (I really don't have a lot of those in my area), I do consider myself a member of the "vintage subculture." You know the type:  the sort of person who's more comfortable staying in and sewing or knitting from a vintage pattern than going bar-hopping, who's on a first-name basis with the owners of the local antique shop, who knows the optimum time to visit the Salvation Army for some primo vintage. That type.

And maybe a little of this type too.

However, there are some things about this vintage culture that drive me absolutely insane. And because I live in a fairly small town, most of what I encounter is over the internet. A lot of this is on eBay.

I don't really do a lot of online shopping, but I do a lot of online browsing, so I spend a fair amount of time over at eBay. This is my (by no means exhaustive) list of pet peeves. There will probably be more installments in this series, because I am easily annoyed.

• "Industrial" sewing machines.

I am of the opinion you can NEVER have enough sewing machines, especially vintage sewing machines (where there is a possibility one may conk out on you at any time if it's not in optimum condition). Even though I have two great sewing machines, I'm always on the lookout for another. A Featherweight, a Class 15 clone, Pfaff or Adler, Kenmore...all are on my wishlist. (As well as space to put them!) However, one word that crops up a lot on sewing machine listings is "industrial." Compare the two pictures:

Both illustrations are from ISMACS.

The first sewing machine is the Singer 29. The second sewing machine is the Singer 201-2. The first is designed for industrial use by bootmakers, furriers, and all sorts of other leatherworkers. The second is designed for domestic use. 

Now, the two do look kind of similar. They're both black, they have hand-wheels, and there's a needle. But the Singer 29 is designed for highly specialized work, whereas the Singer 201-2 is designed for more general work. Is a Singer 201-2 capable of sewing leather? Yeah, as eBay sellers will testify. Is it designed to sew leather every day? No, probably not. I have a Singer 201-2 and I love it. It sews beautifully. But there are some things it just can't do.

So we've concluded the Singer home machines aren't "industrial". But are they "industrial strength"?

This is a hard one. On one hand, we have no working definition of "industrial" or "strength". "Strength" may come without "industrial"—due to the decline of the manufacturing industry in the United States, I'm probably more likely to see a Singer 29 in a leatherworker's shop than I am in an industrial factory. And "industrial" may come without "strength"—delicate items such as lingerie and silk blouses are sewn in industrial settings all the time, just with sewing machines designed for the purpose, like the Juki 8700-A. Industrial machines may not always have a super-fast stitch speed like the Juki model above (4,000 stitches/minute!), especially if they're designed for heavier materials. However, my beloved Singer 201-2 is lagging behind at a mere 1,100 stitches/minute, which is where household machines tend to settle.

The cutest sewing machine ever--but as a hand-crank, probably not very efficient!

On the other hand, vintage domestic sewing machines were designed to take much more of a beating than our modern plastic ones. Most were made of cast iron until the mid-1950s (if my research serves me correctly) and continued to be made out of metal until at least the late 1960s. The manual for the Singer 201-2 instructs the user to oil the machine daily if it's used every day, which it may have been, for some users.

In short: don't trust an eBay seller describing a domestic sewing machine as "industrial" or "industrial strength". It doesn't matter if it sews eight layers of tooling leather or denim unless YOU'RE going to be sewing eight layers of tooling leather or denim. Buy for your needs.

Speaking of which...

• Selling sewing machine manuals (especially digital copies). 

Yes, it's cool to have the original, but you can probably find one online for free.

And finally...

• Mad Men is set in the 1960s!

Does this:

Photo from the Mad Men Facebook page

look like this:

No! I mean, really, even if I try to step out of my fashion-historian shoes for a minute, no, they do not look ANYTHING alike. I've been looking at a lot of vintage sewing patterns and ephemera lately, and the difference between the 1950s and the 1960s is so marked:

MAYBE I'm cheating a little by using a late 1960s pattern, but the early 1960s part of the show was over half a decade ago. The show is ABOUT the social changes of the 1960s—and I'd say fashion is included in that! If people are still throwing Mad Men themed parties (are they?), people are dressing more like Megan than Betty.

Probably because Megan is way more fun.

So, that wraps up my vintage pet peeves entry part one. Don't even get me started on clothes...I have some more goodies coming up though! 

What are YOUR vintage pet peeves? Did I miss any? (I'm sure I did!)

xoxo,

Annie Belle