Brother Sewing Machine Museum Japan
Hello Dear Friends and Readers and a warm welcome to today’s post. Welcome to susies-scraps.com
During my recent Craft tour of Japan, we also attended the Brother Sewing Machine Museum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Industries
There was so much to see. I am aware that many of you are also sewing machine enthusiasts, therefore, I thought the Brother Sewing Machine Museum, warranted a post of its own. This post hopes to enable a view of some of the beautiful machines that were in this museum. I have included extra links in post in case you would like to delve further into the history.
We took a train to arrive at Harita Station, Nagoya, Japan. Then a short walk to the museum. We were given a tour around the museum which was very nicely done. We were there for a couple of hours but in truth could have stayed longer to fully appreciate all the machines they have there. I am glad I took the photos to remember a bit more of the visit. Brother has also manufactured typewriters, washing machines and printers amoung other things, but our focus was the sewing machines. The Brother Sewing Machine Museum, had a huge wall of mounted machines of all ages. Zoom in for a closer look.
There were some beautiful antique machines of which I thought the highlight was actually this beautiful Singer 12 New Family Machine with the stunning fiddle shaped base. I managed to acquire one of these Singer 12 New Family machines some years back, which is a hand crank made at a much later date. Singer 12 Circa 1899
The Brother company acquired the UK Jones Sewing Machine Company in 1968. The Jones company made machines for 100 years, before the acquisition by Brother Industries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_Sewing_Machine_Company
Here is a beautiful Jones Serpentine model from the United Kingdom dated 1880.
This one is an unusual Brother machine from 1928 which was used for making straw hats.
This beautiful and ornate machine from 1865 was made especially for Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter when she married the Kaiser Prince of Prussia. Silver plated with Windsor Castle depicted in the timber table. https://museum.global.brother/guide/zone/1/8?lang=en
How it came to be there, I am not sure, as there is a record of the same machine? …being sold at a Christies auction into a private collection according to Alex Askaroff’s Sewalot site…https://sewalot.com/queen%20victoria.htm
I was given the opportunity to test out one of their vintage treadle machines which was quite hilarious because it was a test of speed! It was hooked up to a monitor to measure it. I wasn’t as fast as I thought! It was fun to try.
Here are some more of the highlights of these historical machines for your perusal. Feel free to zoom in on the photos to read a bit more about some of the machines. Learn to Treadle
Some of the very early antique sewing machines and a bit of their history. There was so much to take in….
Here is a full image of the antique Singer New Family treadle machine dated 1865. https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/singer-improved-family-sewing-machine.html
I hope you enjoyed this small insight into this museum. I feel very fortunate to have been able to see it in person.
If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy;
Singer 31K20 Industrial Treadle 1937
Vestazinha Little Vesta Saxonia Sewing Machine Circa 1940
Wertheim Model A Sewing Machine
Happy stitching!
Susie
© Susan Stuklis 2025
Dear Susie, what an amazing journey through time by way of sewing machines. Thanks for our vicarious peek into the past. Absolutely wondrous
Oh, for the love of old sewing machines! What a great treat for us! But no Wilcox-Gibbs machines? I inherited my grandmother’s Singer treadle, but it is in storage at this time. I’ve only used it for display in the past. Now we are in too small a space to bring it in. Hopefully someday we’ll have more space and I can have all my machines set up and usable.
Best wishes to you, Jean. I hope you can get your machines out soon.
I’m so glad you shared those great pictures! What wonderful machines! I am rather fond of my Jones hand crank and may actually prefer it over many of my Singer and other hand crank machines.
What a terrific museum!
Thanks Erin! I’ve never had the chance to use a Jones. Sounds like it’s very good!
Thank you – I did enjoy! I didn’t realise they took over Jones. Not too far from here, a little cafe (attached to a cast iron stove/woodburner shop!) has tables made with Jones cast iron treadle bases – I was so sad – no machines which must have gone to pot. Thank you for showing the museum, I love the fiddle base – the decals are beautiful – never seen any decals like that before. If I’d gone to the museum I’d likely get lost because of dawdling around and just looking wistfully at the machines that I’d love to have! LOL!
Thank you, Kerry. Yes it’s sad when the machines have gone. Yes, I could’ve stayed there a lot longer.
Absolutely fascinating, Susie!
Thank you so much Pat!