Selling sewing machines in the early seventies

Not much sewing for myself this week, and alterations for friends are only of interest to them, so here's a brief post about sewing machine adverts in Vogue Pattern Book in the early 1970s. One in particular from 1973 caught my eye, so then I had to check what else was out there.

Adverts for fabric and haberdashery were often full page, colour, and ran for several issues, Those for machines were very different. There was at most one machine advertised per issue, mostly Elna or Singer. The Elna adverts were black and white, and usually only part of a page. Click on any image to enlarge.

Summer 1973, combined advert for sewing machine and press

Summer 1974

Spring 1975

This Pfaff advert was full page, possibly part of the message that this was a machine for serious sewists.

Early Autumn 1975

Not only was Singer one of the two firms who advertised in colour in this period, they also ran to double-page spreads.

Autumn 1973

Early Spring 1974

And the other firm? Well, this was the image that started this post.

Winter 1973, it's certainly different!

Leaving aside the idea that your sewing machine and your décor should match - I would have to live in a black and gold house, which sounds alarming - there is the small matter of the, erm, 'Viking'. This was the era when it was normal for boat and motor shows, certainly in the UK, to have scantily clad women draped over their wares to attract attention. So perhaps Husqvana just decided that what was sauce for the goose?

The sewing department at my school had Viking machines and now I'm wondering what, exactly, caused Midlothian Education Authority to go with Husqvana as opposed to, say, Singer or Jones. Hopefully it was for sound financial reasons rather than the sales rep!