Pieces of the Past: New Home Sewing Machine Co. III

The last examples of New Home Sewing Machine Co. trade cards are not truly trade cards, but they do represent Victorian-style advertising and foreshadow the demise of trade cards in favor of postcards.  I posted some of the images in a larger size so you could see the details in the illustrations - please be patient while everything loads.

A true trade card - no advertising on the reverse, just kids and cats playing with the sewing machine.

This image is not a true trade card.  It is larger than a typical trade card and printed on heavier stock.  It's also cut to follow the printed image.  This may have been done by a collector or it may have been originally issued this way.  Perhaps it was used as an in-store advertisement or maybe part of a calendar.  Regardless, it has typical imagery from the period: this time a pug dog is even included!

Another example of advertising that is not a true trade card.  Again, a much larger size and printed on heavy card stock.  The smaller image in the upper right had corner appears to be pasted in place.  I can't quite figure out what is happening in the scene - was the little girl sewing something for dolly when Mother caught her in the act?

At first glance, this piece appears to be a bookmark.  It's actually a cut-out, which becomes a three-dimensional house when assembled. 

As the popularity of Victorian trade cards waned, advertisers introduced variations on a theme.  Paper dolls were used for advertising a multitude of products, including sewing machines.  This image was also meant to be cut and assembled.

The last four cards in the New Home collection are actually postcards.  By the end of the nineteenth century, trade cards were being replaced in popularity by postcards.  Prior to 1898, only the US Postal Service could issue postcards.  After that date regulations were changed and postcards became an increasingly popular medium for images of all sorts, as well as for sending messages!

These two postcards are typical images that were repeated in various forms for years:  beautiful, well-groomed women posed with sewing machines.  Do a search on eBay for postcard + sewing machine and  you'll likely get a crop of photo postcards with similar illustrations.

This amusing image may have been New Home's response to Singer's Costumes of All Nations cards.  If you've ever moved a treadle sewing machine (they were made of cast iron), you can image what this camel is feeling!

Another common sewing machine image: sewing/repairing a garment while the wearer is occupying it.  This postcard may be a reproduction.  Note the greyhound dog near the top of the card - the "light-running" greyhound was New Home advertising logo.

That wraps up the New Home Sewing Machine Company cards in my collection.  I'm not sure which company I'll focus on next; if you have any requests please leave them in the Comments section!

Pieces of the Past: New Home Sewing Machine Co. II

Continuing to delve into my scrapbook of sewing machine Victorian trade cards, here are some more advertising images for New Home sewing machines.  (New Home Sewing Machine Co. I)

Another common Victorian trade card theme was to depict the item being advertised being used as a completely different object.  In this card, the sewing machine is incorporated into a high-wheeled bicycle.

The Light-Running 
New Home Sewing Machine
Johnson, Clark & Co.
Orange, Mass.

An interesting historical note - bicycles were all the rage during the last quarter of the 19th century, and the first bicycle factory was started by a fellow who gave up sewing machine production to manufacture bicycles.

New Home sewing machine being used for ice skating!

Chariot a la New Home sewing machine.

Yet another strategy employed by Victorian trade cards involved a blissful or idyllic lifestyle associated with the product being advertised.

Doesn't every young girl dream of a New Home sewing machine?

La Maquina de Coser New Home De Movimiento
Suave Y Ligera.

A common English language card, I happened to also find this one in Spanish.  Roughly translated it says the New Home sewing machine is smooth and light-running.

These two cards have copyright dates from the early 1880s.  Don't you love the idealized version of life suggested when one owns a New Home sewing machine?

  

One could probably write volumes analyzing the images on these cards.  I enjoy the history, the art work and the glimpses of everyday life from over a century ago!

Pieces of the Past: New Home Sewing Machine Co.

I confess I have been in a bit of a funk lately and haven't felt much urge to sew.  I've finished about three-fourths of the quilting on the Deep, Deep Sea baby quilt, but otherwise have no quilting output to share.  I hope to finish the baby quilt by the end of the week - indeed, the precious baby arrived about 2 weeks ahead of his due date, so now there's a little more pressure to finish!  Once the baby quilt is done, there are several projects in various stages that should bring some satisfying sewing time.  I look forward to that!

In the meantime, I'll share some more antique sewing machine trade cards.  In response to a previous Pieces of the Past post, Kimber sent me a link to her beautiful antique New Home sewing machine.  Since Kimber shares my affection for history and antique sewing machines, I thought I'd share a few of my New Home Victorian trade cards today.

The first incarnation of the New Home Sewing Machine Company was actually named Johnson, Clark & Company/Gold Medal Sewing Machine Company.  That company was founded in 1860 in Orange, Massachusetts.  In 1882, the company reorganized and chose the name New Home Sewing Machine Company.  New Home merged with the Free Sewing Machine Company in 1927, but continued to make "New Home" machines into the 1930s.

One of New Home's favorite advertising themes was using "Before" and "After" illustrations of the virtues of their sewing machines.  An early image for Johnson, Clark & Co. shows Mother using a "noisy, hard-running old machine" which agitates the children and the dog.  The next image shows the peaceful household restored after Mother purchases a New Home sewing machine.

I shall exchange this Noisy, Hard-Running, Old Machine for a "New
Home", which my sisters, cousins and aunts recommend.
How quietly it runs!  It is really a pleasure to sew since I bought the
Light-Running "New Home".

Another before and after card pictures a fox who lost his tail in a trap.  He uses a New Home sewing machine to sew his tail back in place so it will never come loose again!

There was once a Fox who lost his tail in a trap. Meeting
his companions they mocked at him, so he bought
a Light-Running "NEW HOME" Machine, which
sewed it on so tight it never came off again.

A variation on the Before & After card is known as a "Hold to Light" card.  The image is designed so that when the viewer holds the card up against a bright light, the image changes.  Upon holding this card to the light, the woman sewing by hand is transformed into the beautifully dressed woman sewing with a New Home sewing machine.

"With fingers weary and worn"
"With eyelids heavy and red"
"A Woman Sat in Unwomanly Rags"
"Plying Her Needle and Thread"

By Holding This Card to the Light, You Will See A Happy Change in the Above Picture,
& What Caused It.

The verse on the card is actually from "The Song of the Shirt", a composition by Thomas Hood which described the tedious and tiring life of seamstresses before the invention of the sewing machine.  Sewing machines were advertised as time savers that would benefit women's health and well being, as well as allow them to devote more time to their husbands and children. Of course, the converse of this was that many men feared women would have too much time on their hands if freed from the labor of hand sewing! 

One of my all-time favorite New Home advertisements is a four page pamphlet.  The pamphlet cleverly illustrates an amusing Before & After scene demonstrating an unusual quality provided by a New Home sewing machine.

Act 1st - The Perplexing Question.
A New Home Machine or a French Sewing Girl.

Act 2nd - The French Sewing Girl Decided Upon.
The Arrival.

Act 3rd - The French Sewing Girl Duly Installed.

Act 4th - The French Assistant Did Not Give Entire Satisfaction.
A New Home Machine Has Been Purchased.
All's Well That Ends Well.