1/29/2008
modernity
So I was doing a bit of the "from the thrift store you came, and to the thrift store ye shall return" yesterday and decided to pop in for a look around. You get rid of some stuff and you make room for more stuff. I spotted this cabinet.
Which turns out to be a sewing machine cabinet. The "drawers" are a facade for a built in bench with underseat storage! How sleek and built in. How mid-century!
In that miraculous interchangeability of sewing machines built in the days before planned obsolescence, the old pink Brother fits right in. This is maybe one of the most loveable things about sewing machines. Need a belt? Need a bobbin case? A cabinet? They're all standard sizes. Across brands. Across decades. Plus you can actually observe all the moving parts and figure out which one isn't moving the right way. No mysteries. No chips. It's an actual machine.
The machine in the cabinet seems very close to working -- needs a new belt and a new slide plate, but I think I can find those without much ado. At first I thought I'd get rid of it and just use the cabinet for the Brother, but I tried it a bit and I think it might be a winner. I've never heard of the brand and couldn't find much on the internet -- it's a Radi-O-Matic, and has enough levers and dials to get a man on the moon. All metal. No plastic. And it's got the manual with it. And if there was any doubt about it, it's very Modern. It's even labeled.
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