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James Wood's "Sue" Sewing Machine Concept

By Rain Noe - July 19, 2012

in Object Culture

I've recently learned that there was another student exhibiting at the New Designers show who also did a sewing machine concept (see here for Tuesday's post on the first), but unfortunately, has not received any press on it, despite what I think is a fantastic effort. UK-based James Wood, who graduates from Bournemouth University's ID department this month, clearly familiarized himself with the product and did his homework before setting out on his re-design.

Before we get into his concept, I'd like to show you a couple of sewing-machine-related issues that a layperson would not have any reason to be familiar with.

1. The Snips Issue

Those are thread snips, a diminutive and deceptively ineffective-looking pair of scissors. Sewists use these to cut the tails off of threads, enabling them to remove a freshly-sewn piece of material from the machine. You might ask why they just don't use regular scissors, as they undoubtedly have a pair on hand to cut the fabric; the answer is because the little snips are faster and easier to manipulate, particularly near the machine, than the typically large shears used to cut fabric.

But because there's no dedicated place to put the snips during sewing, people just lay them on the table, where they occasionally get in the way during sewing. Or you place them far off to the side and have to hunt around for them a bit. If you watch YouTube videos on sewing demonstrations, you'll occasionally see even experienced sewists hunting around for them.

2. Pin Rash

Here's a machine I'm in the midst of restoring. Although initially covered in the grime of ages, it was extraordinarily, atypically well-preserved. Note the area of the arm, around the "S" of the Singer logo, is quite smooth.

Now look at the same area on a more typical example of a well-used machine from the same era (1940s):

Those little scratches are what's called "pin rash." When sewing off a pattern, sewists will use pins to attach the paper pattern directly to the fabric (the same way you might spray-mount a CAD printout to a sheet of foamcore you needed to cut up). As they commenced sewing, they'd pluck each pin out as it approached the needle. Pin cushions existed at the time, but in an early example of product hacking, sewists discovered it was faster to simply tie a length of fabric around the arm of the machine, like a headband, and stick the pins into it one by one. The ugly scratches you see here are the result.

Now, on to Wood's concept machine, called "Sue:"

I love the simple idea of the felt-lined, magnetic on-board snips holder. It would enable you to always have the snips at easy reach, while the felt prevents you banging up the finish of the machine.

I also love how the felt is simply extended upwards to form an on-board pin cushion. Simple, attractive, and solves a problem.

A third thing I'm digging is the handcrank. You might wonder why anyone would prefer to do something manually when they have the option of using an electric motor. But I was surprised to learn, by participating in online sewing forums, of the popularity of handcrank machines. For people who live in remote regions or tempestuous areas like America's Gulf Coast, blackouts are a shockingly regular fact of life. There's also a class of retiree sewing enthusiasts who like to sew while seeing the country by RV or vacationing in electricity-free cabins or campgrounds.

Another surprising thing I've learned is that many parents and grandparents like to teach children as young as six to sew on a machine, but prefer handcranks because it is both safer and gives the child a sense of agency, which I applaud. Yet this market has been largely unaddressed, and forums are populated with people seeking handcranks for teaching purposes. With no commonly-available modern-day alternative, they must turn to the secondhand market and use machines that are literarlly 50 to 120 years old, which often require maintenance.

While I'm not keen on not being able to see the thread, concealed as it is in the nose of the machine, I really appreciate that Wood tackled the aforementioned areas with his concept. And at the same time, he was refreshingly up-front about the shortcomings of his project: "My University didn't give us workshop time so I had to make the model in a week, from home," he writes. "There are other features meant to be on the model that I just didn't have time to get on," he explained, referring to the bobbin-winding mechanism (mounted in the nose) and the presser foot lever.

I don't care that he didn't have time to completely finish the project; it is his design thinking that I value and respect. Wood, I hope you continue to seek the "Cure" for product design ailments.

o

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suz

12 years ago

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Yaay, James! I love new ideas. Develop it some more. This doesn't have to sew a long heavy piece of cloth or do anything fancy. Just get it to sew, even with a hand crank generator for starters (see: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/travel/hand-powered-generators.htm

Then give it to a kid with some cloth and thread and let her / him figure out what to do with it. Believe me magic will happen.
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Peter

12 years ago

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Sam, maybe you weren't paying attention. The movie showed a pedal in the beginning, so I'm sure the concept is electric.

What I don't see is a way to fix it to a table. Try sewing a long and heavy piece of cloth with such a light weight sewing machine.
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theperfectnose

12 years ago

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Another awesome concept sewing machine review. Just one little thing to add wrt the pin marks. The pins are probably from pinning fabric pieces together not from pinning pattern paper to fabric (given that even ye olde machines have throat plates with seam allowance gauges, I don't think sewists would risk putting their precious paper patterns near the feed dogs). The fabric gets cut into the pattern shape and separated from the paper before the actual sewing commences. With the advent of rotary cutters (similar to pizza cutters), most contemporary sewists no longer pin patterns to fabric. We use weights to keep the pattern in place on a cutting mat and cut around with the rotary blade. Also, while this machine is way more functional than the flat pack one reviewed earlier it would be awesome to be able to see the thread spool. Also, the snips.. sigh Kai have an awesome rubber handled ergonomic pair (which I use) easy to take apart for sharpening etc but kind of a bitch to store while working (as you described). The ancients used a thing called a Chatelaine which is basically a necklace type thing to hang snips off but I'm not into that so kudos to ID that takes that into account.
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cheeseandrice

12 years ago

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It's a flipping uni project. It's great work.
I'm always flabbergasted at how much is expected of a student in a few months by people who spend 2 years developing toasters!!! So much bloody negativity. Way to encourage people into ID.
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Sam

12 years ago

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Perhaps a good concept, but ver unclear as to whether it is only a manual machine, electric or both. You need to do better to get it to market.
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BF

12 years ago

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Way to go James! This is a nicely thought out design - wish it was available in stores now.
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DB

12 years ago

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So much better than that grey brick turd. So much better.
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Martin Siegrist

12 years ago

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http://mrtn.ch/images/kabosch_siegrist_duo.jpg
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