A Different Narrative on "Industrial Homework": The Sewing Machine in Domestic Space and Its Promotion Under the Communist Regime

The use of the sewing machine has made it difficult to distinguish between industrial homework and domestic activities. Furthermore, the involvement of the amateur builder in do-it-yourself activities, such as creating furniture alongside home maintenance, shows an overlap between consumption and production, a subject studied within the context of division of labor. This paper examines a specific section of articles published in the Romanian Tehnium magazine from 1970 to 1990, which provided DIY projects for repairing and building various household objects, with a particular focus on the sewing machine, recognized as an essential tool in producing these items. Setting up a workshop, as recommended by the magazine, in a smallsized apartment to facilitate furniture building was harder than integrating a sewing machine, a product promoted under the communist regime as a necessity of every household, especially in light of women’s efforts to keep up with fashion.

As a research method, home design proposals from Tehnium were inventoried and categorized, followed by creating an interior layout of a Romanian socialist standardized apartment based on a selection of these projects. Whereas the magazine illustrated these objects separately, this proposed floor plan aims to reveal an overall view while assessing the influence of the sewing machine on their creation. In this process, the portrait of such an amateur builder is not overlooked, but explored through the question posed by Tehnium to its readers: “Do you know what industrial beauty is?”