Never Throw Away Your Sewing Machine Box!

I have a few sewing machines.

Ahem.

Perhaps I should say that I have several sewing machines.

And after many years of sewing, I have learned one very important lesson:

Never throw away the original box.

I know. It sounds terribly boring.

A box is a box, isn't it?

Cardboard. A bit of foam. Some plastic. Perhaps a picture of the sewing machine on the outside.

Surely you can throw it away once your beautiful new sewing machine has found a permanent place in your sewing room?

No.

Please don't.

The box is important.

Very important.

In fact, I would go as far as saying that the original box is the life insurance of your sewing machine.

The day you need to move your sewing machine

When you buy a new sewing machine, everything is usually packed beautifully.

The machine sits safely inside its moulded packaging. There is foam around it, protective material in the right places and a box designed specifically for that particular machine.

Then you unpack it.

You admire it.

You put the box somewhere.

And eventually you think:

I will never need this again.

That is the moment when you should probably put the box somewhere safe.

Preferably somewhere very safe.

Possibly in the attic.

Yes, I know.

It takes up a ridiculous amount of space.

My attic can confirm this.

But there is a reason I keep them.

I learned the hard way

I have bought sewing machines second-hand through places such as Marktplaats and Vinted.

And more than once, a machine arrived damaged.

Not completely destroyed.

That would almost be easier to understand.

No, it was always something frustratingly small.

A little flap that no longer closed properly.

A small metal part that had been bent.

Something that had obviously been knocked during transport.

The seller had probably packed the machine as carefully as they could.

But a sewing machine is a heavy and rather complicated piece of equipment.

Putting it in a random cardboard box with some bubble wrap and hoping for the best is not really a transport strategy.

It is more of a prayer.

And apparently, prayers do not always work.

A sewing machine is not a toaster

This is the important part.

A sewing machine may look sturdy, but inside that casing are many precisely adjusted mechanical and electronic parts.

Some machines are also surprisingly heavy.

During transport, a box can be dropped, turned upside down, thrown onto a conveyor belt or have another package placed on top of it.

The original packaging is designed to protect the machine from exactly this sort of treatment.

A random box is not.

So if you are buying a second-hand sewing machine, I have one very simple question for the seller:

“Do you still have the original packaging?”

If the answer is yes, excellent.

If the answer is no, I would be very careful about having the machine shipped.

Personally, I would rather collect it myself if that is possible.

The original box is also useful when you sell

Perhaps you are thinking:

But my sewing machine is staying with me forever.

Wonderful.

I hope it does.

But even if you have no intention whatsoever of selling it, you may need to transport it one day.

Perhaps you move house.

Perhaps you take it to a workshop.

Perhaps it needs a repair.

Perhaps it needs a proper service.

And that brings me to another reason why I keep my sewing machine boxes.

Even sewing machines need a little holiday

As some of you know, I am a Bernina Ambassador.

I love my Bernina machines, and I expect them to be part of my life for a very long time.

But even the best sewing machine occasionally needs maintenance.

Just like us.

You can eat well, exercise, behave sensibly and still occasionally need to see the doctor.

Sewing machines are much the same.

Every now and then, they need a professional service.

And when one of mine needs to go to the repair or service centre, I go into the attic.

I retrieve the original box.

Yes, the very large box that I have been carefully storing for years.

Then the machine goes back into its original packaging, exactly as it was designed to.

And sometimes I add a little thank-you gift for the people who are going to look after my machine.

A little box of chocolates or something similar.

Because if someone is going to spend their day taking apart, cleaning, adjusting and putting back together the machine that makes my work possible, a small thank-you seems entirely appropriate.

And then the box comes home again

The wonderful thing is that the machine always comes back beautifully packed in its original box.

Everything is safe.

Everything is protected.

The machine is ready to return to the sewing room.

And do you know what does not come back?

The box of chocolates.

Naturally.

I suppose that is only fair.