Juki DOL 555

[Sheilajeanne]

Cool stories, Wiz and Don! Thanks for sharing.

[Xalonde]

On 3/31/2023 at 4:21 AM, DonInReno said:

These are right out of the groovy disco days of the 1970s.   I have one that was used by a tailor in a Nevada casino - when he retired the machine was gifted to him, but from the looks of it, he stopped sewing all together and it sat in a storage unit across the street from the casino.

Back then he could smoke and drink while working - apparently a cosmopolitan was his drink of choice and there were hundreds of little dots of red on the frame and hidden sides of the machine.    With a happy gleam in his eye - told me about living in the casino fast lane - the parties, the iconic shows of the time, all the excesses that surround VIP pampering.  The sewing table would have certainly tested positive for cocaine residue.  A tailor was always on standby in case a show girl’s outfit ripped a seam, the band ended up in a scuffle or Dean Martin or Sammy Davis Jr needed a last minute suit alteration.  Maybe just a VIP with a dress that needed to flatter a little more.

That old Juki had sequins of all colors in every conceivable nook and cranny - every time it gets deep cleaned a few hidden sequins appear…and it makes me smile.
These days people still chase that same thrill, though often through an online casino site with fast payouts where the action is quick and the rewards come without waiting. It’s a modern echo of that fast-living casino culture, just in a different form.

These are high speed machines and the automatic oiler doesn’t work unless it’s run fast, at least for a minute or so.   They aren’t worth much and I rarely use it, but it’s a fun time machine so I’ll hang onto it until the estate sale.  Lol

The fact that a simple sewing machine carries traces of the casino fast lane—the glitz, the chaos, and even the little sequins hiding in its corners—is wild.

Edited 9 hours ago by Xalonde