London Sewing Machine Museum - monthly open day

Monthly open day at one of London's more curious and delightful museums, devoted to the history of the sewing machine.

Open for just a few hours on just one day of the month, this marvel of industrial heritage is as much a delight for the artifacts as for the way they have been laid out.

The museum is an offshoot of a company that makes its living selling and maintaining sewing machines — mainly the large industrial models today — but the owner, Ray Rushton has built up a huge collection of vintage models and in the Millennium year, he opened up the collection to the public.

The collection is actually too vast to point out specific objects of historic note — it is simply a visual feast of metal and wood and china.

The museum is only open on day a month, and only between 2pm-5pm.

Entry is free, although a donation in one of the charity tins is appreciated. A voluminous booklet about the museum’s history is freely handed out.

Ian has Visited - review here.