Sew Simple

Singer, the maker of sewing machines, once fixtures in millions of homes, home economic classrooms, and sweatshops has gone hi-tech and high fashion. The Quantum Futura machine interfaces with your personal computer, allowing the user to create customized embroidered patterns. The Futura has 129 stitch patterns and AutoPunch software, which allows the user to convert graphics and pictures to embroidery patterns. The machine then embroiders the fabric. The user monitors its work, changing the thread as necessary. "Hours of embroidery work is reduced to minutes using the computer interfaced machines like the Futura. And it sews too! It saves space because I can sew and embroider with the same machine."

Expert seamstress Sandra Howard knows just how exciting this can be. "Where did you get that shirt?!" is a question that Sandra Howard hears on a weekly basis. She beams, "I made it," and generously allows her admirer the time to examine her professional level work. Sandra has been designing and making her own clothes since age for over 40 years. As a child, she was drawn to her mother's broken, antique Singer. Secretly, she took the machine apart, rebuilt it, and took the next logical step. "I like the clothes that some of the girls in my class had. So, I taught myself to sew," she laughs.

Tinkering with the old Singer opened Sandra's mind to the ever-changing technologies in the world. She uses her "crackberry" daily; Facebook is her "guilty pleasure," especially since she lives several states away from her family. Mention the Singer Quantum Futura machine to her and she grins like a toddler with a cookie. "I get to use [my computer and my sewing machine], best of both worlds!"

When asked if digitized sewing kills the craft, Sandra rocked in her seat, searching for the correct words. "Yes and no." She has become frustrated at the decline in crafts and sewing stores in the Jacksonville, FL area. "But areas like New York's garment district are booming. I really think that [digitized sewing] makes the craft simpler for new tailors and designers. And shows like Project Runway are lifting the veil for young people; someone has to make the clothes that you wear."