Châlons-en-Champagne: enthusiasts want to reopen the sewing machine museum and make it a unique place in France

Lucien and Huguette Cordier, two lovers of couture and beautiful mechanics, initiated the project. Their collection of sewing machines had been on display for many years in the heart of Châlons-en-Champagne, visible only by appointment and during heritage days. Their son and two other enthusiasts now want to make it an exceptional place.

13 Place des buttes in Châlons-en-Champagne was open, by appointment, for over 25 years. An incredible museum, where it would take nothing to hear the very specific noise of the sewing machine again. Perhaps not the very first invented almost 200 years ago by the French Barthélemy Thimonnier, even if it is indeed part of the collection. But why not, others, more modern. "You know, the mechanics have not changed, explains Laurent Cordier, son of Lucien and Huguette. Between a machine from 100 years ago and one from today, there is no big difference. The simple stitcher always works the same way".

Peugeot, Mercedes, Opel have made them

Laurent Cordier was rocked, from his earliest childhood, by this very specific music of the sewing machine. Passionate in turn, he wants to transform his parents' family home into an essential place. Adjoining their house, Huguette and Lucien had assembled a collection of sewing machines, now unique in France. "Some people tell me: I know the Singer well. I answer them, but what we show are the front ones! started by making sewing machines, explains Laurent Cordier. Hand, pedal, piston, string, travel or the first electric machines".

They are all there, more than 500, dating from 1830 to 1900, not counting the other 500 sewing machines designed for children. They too are over a century old. “The sewing machine was, at the time, the first purchase of a couple. It was paid for over several months of salary, it was what made it possible to make all the clothes of the family, the sheets, the curtains. It even had a prominent place in times of war because the companies that manufactured them could quickly turn into an arms factory. All the material was there: cast iron, steel, mechanics".

Lucian's story

He was 12 years old, Lucien Cordier, when he had to help his father at home. "He started by selling yarn and needles by going door to door, recounts his son Laurent with a touch of emotion. Then by bicycle then, and by moped later, he was able to transport and sell sewing machines. sew. You bought one and my father collected the old one. The treadle sewing machines were given, for many, to associations which sent them to Africa. Others, out of the ordinary, were put in side".

At the time, the family lived in Nancy, and this is how they began to accumulate machines, without necessarily suspecting what would happen next. Lucien Cordier opens his first store, in Bar-le-Duc in the Meuse. It is also in this city that he meets his wife. Together they pursue the passion. They settled in Châlons-en-Champagne and opened their second store selling sewing machines in 1956, Place Godard. "Our collection grew, says Laurent Cordier again, my parents, then me with them then, we participated in meetings of collectors in Germany, in England. They were sewing machine clubs where we exchanged our machines to have most beautiful pieces. I bought collections, created a website". Laurent himself opened a shop selling sewing machines in Reims at the end of the 1970s. When they retired, his parents passed on theirs to Françoise Billo. It will last until 2019.

A unique place in France

Lucien and Huguette Cordier are now deceased and the private museum they created is closed. Laurent, their son, has every intention of bringing the family collection back to life. "I want it to come alive. We want to give it the grandeur it deserves and that it can allow as many people as possible to find each other. Pass on to them the passion for this heritage accumulated over more than 50 years".

For this, he was joined by two enthusiasts: Françoise Billo, who bought the store and Lucile Debrandt, seamstress and lingerie designer. "If it's to make a classic museum, and it's not pejorative, continues Laurent Cordier, it's not worth it. We don't want to open a few months a year and a few hours a day to see 3 -4 people. We want to gather, federate". Create an atypical, intergenerational place where, of course, the most beautiful models of sewing machines will be exhibited, but where sewing lessons could be given, exhibition spaces made available, where even a tea room could be set up .

But before that, the first step is to create an association law 1901 and recruit volunteers. "We must first proceed with the transformation of my parents' family home, renovating it in order to be able to install the collection there. To do this, we are counting on the solidarity and skills of everyone in all areas: electricity, decoration, etc." . Once this new step has been completed, it will be necessary to retain these volunteers to operate the dedicated place.

The association will begin with a crazy chance: that of having a site of more than 300 square meters, in the city center of Châlons-en-Champagne.

A place and a soul… the one deposited there by Lucien and Huguette Cordier. "It was his whole life, says Laurent Cordier again, speaking of his father. A week before he died, he was still repairing sewing machines in his workshop".