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Qingwei | sewing machine

Text/Hao Xiaode

Qingwei | sewing machine

Over the years, the thing that makes me feel disappointed is that I am disproportionately long, according to the rural saying, three urns are tall, two urns are thick, and a man of less than one meter and seven meters still has a beer belly, which can be said to be ugly. That's fine, and what's even more worrying is that you can't buy the right pants. I usually have a waist fat of three feet and two, but my legs are not long enough, that is to say, the legs are thick and the legs are short, and if I rely on the waist fat when buying pants, the pants legs must be cut off at least twenty or thirty centimeters. Therefore, every time you buy pants, you have to go to a place, that is, to go to the dress shop to cut the legs. I didn't care how many times I went to cut my pants recently, only to find that the sewing machine used by the tailor was electric. I asked her why she didn't have to do it by hand? She smiled and said that you are really old-fashioned, why do you still use that? That play has long been unable to find the shadow!

I grew up in the countryside, and since I can remember, the clothes I wore were sewn by my mother with needles and threads. Because the needlework is not exquisite, the clothes are always thick and unsightly, and it is not comfortable to wear. This is not only the family, but the people in the village, like me, wear their own sewing clothes all year round, but some of them are doing well. At that time, rural people had conditions and requirements for finding a daughter-in-law, and when looking for a daughter-in-law, even if the character was almost there, it didn't matter, but the needlework and food work had to be done well. If the girl's meal and needlework are not done well, it will be affected when looking for a partner. But some people also say that lazy people are lazy and will do it for others, and those who can't do it will do it. This means that those who can make clothes will often have to help others make clothes, and if they can't do it, they can find someone else to do it for themselves, and those who can make clothes need to work harder, and those who can't make clothes are idle. But after all, finding someone else to make clothes is a personal work, owing human affection is to be repaid, people help to make clothes for you, you have to help other people do some other work, saw can not only pull to one end, otherwise the best relationship will be diluted. I remember when I was in elementary school, my village had the first machine that could make clothes, a sewing machine. every... The hostess of the sewing machine is called "Five Grandmothers", because the family she married is the fifth oldest in the family and has a large generation in the village, so the people in the village like to call her object "Five Grandmothers". "Five grandmothers" is everyone's girl, she looks like a flower jade temperament, has seen the world will come not to say, mainly her mind is skillful, and specially to the big city to learn sewing technology, do cotton clothes, make single clothes, do tops, make pants, do trench coats, make coats, can be described as pieces will do, everything proficient, especially she does Zhongshan suits, student clothes that are really handsome, that is called a good. According to the "five grandmothers", the sewing machine is composed of four parts: the head, the base, the transmission and the accessories.

Qingwei | sewing machine

The machine head is the main part of the sewing machine, it is composed of four mechanisms of prickling, hook, thread picking, feeding and winding, pressing, tooth drop and other auxiliary mechanisms, which opened our eyes, and also saw the far-reaching knowledge of the "five grandmothers", and let us admire the five bodies thrown to the ground. The "Five Grandmothers" paid a fee for making clothes, but she always charged an extra cheap price on the faces of the natives and the old and young masters in the hometown. Usually, in addition to taking the work of the people in the village, she mainly rushes to the four episodes to pick up the work, and people see that the clothes she made are beautiful and new, and they all come to the set to choose her to work. Therefore, whether it is spring, summer, autumn and winter, or day and night, the pleasant sound of the sewing machine is always accompanied by the sun and the moon from her home, and let a piece of clothing wear on people's bodies, she has been working for decades, and the clothes made for people are really uncountable, but each piece of clothing always brings people happiness and satisfaction, and moisturizes people's hearts with sweat. In the village, there are "five grandmothers" who use machines to make clothes, which greatly facilitates the villagers. If people want to make clothes, they just need to go to the market to buy the cloth they want, put it on the "five grandmothers", and let her measure the size, and in a few days they can wear the clothes they want. Since then, in addition to some small tasks that need to be sewn and repaired and needlework, the women in the village have no longer used needle and thread to make clothes.

In 1979, I was transferred to the Yangli Commune Party Committee Reporting Group as a corresponding reporter, and at that time there were not many tailors in the whole commune, but there were several individual tailors who were already doing quite a good job. I remember that at that time, there was a boss surnamed Huang in Dazeng Village whose tailoring business was particularly prosperous, and he was skilled and experienced, and soon became a well-known "ten thousand yuan household" in ten miles and eight townships. He not only took over the work of making clothes, but also set up a sewing technology class, training hundreds of people a year, laying the foundation for the popularization of sewing machines for rural families. The garment products processed by the boss of Yifeng Village surnamed Lu are exported to Shanghai, Tianjin and other places due to their new style and good quality, and are deeply admired by customers. Once, the secretary of the village went to play in his shop, and Boss Lu said that he would make clothes for the secretary and wear them, so as to make a long face for the secretary. And the secretary said: "I recently want to go to Shanghai to set off, when I get to Shanghai, I buy clothes and come back, or people are in the same place on the clothes on the grade, what you do and people a heaven and an underground, there is no comparison!" Boss Lu didn't say anything more. Half a month passed, and the secretary really bought a suit from Shanghai, and the trademark belonged to a factory in Shanghai, so he took it to Boss Lu to see. The secretary asked Lu how it was? Lou said you were carrying a rock up the hill, typically dark under a lamp. The secretary did not understand, Lu took out his own finished clothes for the secretary to see, regardless of the style or quality is exactly the same. Lu said that this dress was made by me, it was processed for a factory in Shanghai, our two joint ventures, just used their trademarks, the secretary stayed for half an hour without saying a word. Because if Lu was asked to process it for himself, it would only cost one hundred and twenty yuan, and the clothes he bought from Shanghai were originally made by Lu, but the value was more than twice as expensive.

Qingwei | sewing machine

Later, with the reform and opening up of rural areas and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, for a period of time, rural youth engaged to "three turns and one ring" (three turns: bicycles, sewing machines and watches, one ring finger radio). Moreover, farmers with conditions simply bought sewing machines, and sewing machines quickly entered peasant families and spread throughout thousands of households, which really played a great role in facilitating rural life. But later, with the take-off and development of the garment processing industry, garment processing formed a scale and production system, sewing machines also quickly entered the science and technology, modernization, the past hand sewing machines were quickly obsolete and eliminated, ending the fate of having sung the "protagonist" in a period of time.

Qingwei | sewing machine

Time goes on and the rings of the year return. I was happy and proud of the hand-sewing machine, and I should have regretted that it was eliminated by the times. But the times are constantly advancing and developing, and if anything does not progress, there is only one conclusion: that is, it is overcome by the times, and what is left to people is only a kind of memory and record.

(Image from the Internet)

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