I admire the old businesses that just keep going. This sewing-machine store in Wicker Park was probably discovered by the young, do-it-yourself crowd just in time.
We write a lot about the dynamism of cities but less about the things in them that do not change. The hoary businesses that go undusted for decades; the narrow buildings that are home to the same people for generations, that own their inhabitants from cradle to grave. The old wooden doors locked and unlocked at the same time each day.
Harley says
Yup, keeping up a store which sells and repairs sewing machines must be a labor of love. I wonder, in this day and age, how many households actually have a sewing machine.
Celia says
There are still huge numbers of women in Chicago’s ethnic communities who sew. But among women who work full-time outside the home, I’m sure the custom is dying out. Too bad, because knowing how to make clothes is a wonderful form of knowledge, and on a simpler level, it’s great fun to do!
One of peculiar features of Celia’s upbringing is that it was extremely traditional and included training in all the house-making arts, except perhaps knitting, which I never learned to do well. But embroidery, yes; baking, yes; cooking, yes; sewing, yes; running a household, yes, yes, yes! I think it’s great that these old-time skills are being “re-discovered” by more people. There are still some marvelous fabric stores, like Fishman’s and Vogue, in Chicago.