Sewing machine with cover, needles, pencils, accessories and chalk

Title

Year/Period

1930s to 1960s

Region

Singapore

Object Type

sewing machines (equipment), boxes (containers), sewing tools, tailor's chalk, pencils (drawing and writing equipment), covers (overlying objects)

Material

paper (fiber product), chalk, wood (plant material), metal, graphite (mineral)

Technique

manufacturing, woodworking, metalworking, forming (physical activity)

Dimension

Object size: (Opened) 97.2 x 102.0 x 40.0 cm,
Object size: (Closed) 97.2 x 82.0 x 40.0 cm

Accession No.

2024-00960

Collection of

National Museum of Singapore

Credit Line

Donated by the family of the late Mdm Lau Ah Loy

This sewing machine belonged to Choy Ah Thim, and later to her daughter, Lau Ah Loy. It was purchased in 1931. After Choy’s husband passed away in 1943, Choy used the sewing machine to make and alter clothing to supplement the income she earned from working on a rubber plantation and later in a tobacco factory. Lau later inherited the sewing machine and used it to sew leather uppers for shoes from home. This allowed her to balance the demands of earning an income with taking care of her children.