Sewing Machine Museum

In the countryside outside Aalten is Herman van Wezel’s small but unusual sewing-machine museum. Housed in a shed behind his home, the museum is not listed in tourist guides or on websites. It mainly attracts visitors with a particular interest in sewing machines and can only be visited by appointment.

Van Wezel, a former co-owner of the clothing company bearing his family name in Bredevoort, developed a lasting fascination with sewing machines through his technical background and many years of experience in the textile industry. His collection is estimated at around three hundred machines. The exact number, together with details such as make, year of manufacture and origin, is recorded on a computer.

The collection consists mainly of older hand- or treadle-operated models, including one of the first ‘modern’ sewing machines, dating from 1852. It also includes several unusual electric machines from the 1950s.

Van Wezel bought his first machines at flea markets and later expanded the collection through a dealer who imported sewing machines from England. He is also a member of organisations such as Slingerfænger and ISMACS, where he sometimes buys another machine at collectors’ meetings. He also occasionally looks on eBay for additions to the collection.

Besides sewing machines, the museum contains a range of related objects, including needles, cases, tools, advertising material, posters and an old stove on which irons were kept hot. One particularly unusual item is a cassette tape containing a radio sewing lesson from the 1950s.