Local shop mends sewing machines, old and new

On the south side of 39th Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenue are a series of low-slung, one-story storefronts that, most of the time, day and night, are completely covered with roll-down security gates, showing nothing of the building or a store. The one exception, opposite the B35/B70 bus stop and open for business just about seven days a week, is Sunset Sewing Machine Supplies. Visible through the window are a dozen sewing machines, some cream-colored and others baby blue. “Se Afilan Tijeras, Scissor Sharpening” reads letters in caps placed high in the window in two distinct typefaces.

Inside the shop, Hector, 65, the owner and sole full-time employee, can be found fixing a sewing machine or waiting for the next customer to enter his small and cramped shop. Throughout the day, every day, customers enter with broken sewing machines, heavy in their arms. Often it’s a simple issue and Hector is able to fix it right on the spot. If he is too busy, or the issue is more complex, he finds a place for the sewing machine among the dozens of machines on shelves or on the floor and promises he will get to it soon.

“When I find a machine too hard to fix, it’s a fight,” Hector said with his Colombian accent and a smile. “When I fix it, I say I am the winner of the fight. I’m the winner.”

One of the best parts of the job is returning a fixed machine to a happy customer.

For 12 years, Hector’s business has been located at 410 39th Street. There were previous incarnations of this shop, some with partners, all in Sunset Park. Since the mid-1990s, Hector has fixed machines in Sunset Park. Up until 15 to 20 years ago, most of his business involved repairing commercial sewing machines for garment manufacturers in the area.

He was serving over one hundred factories. He worked for a while with service contracts for many commercial apparel makers. As garment manufacturing moved out of New York, his focus shifted to fixing home machines.

The shift has been positive for his business, and it continues to thrive. “For me it’s been really really good.”

He was told by the owners of the garment manufacturers that the high rent drove them out of the area.

His home machine clients come from Sunset Park and throughout the metropolitan area. They speak a variety of languages and represent many ethnic groups. “I have clients from the whole world.”

Some are professionals, others experienced home sewers and some just learning. Others are young aspiring fashion designers.

Hector has had clients come in with 80-year-old sewing machines, originally from their great-grandparents. They have an emotional attachment to the machine and want to keep it running. “They want to maintain it, not throw it out,” Hector said.

It’s not a problem as Hector can fix just about any machine and he has sources to get almost any part needed, no matter how old the machine. The older machines are metal, including the exterior shell and the foot pedal. They were made to last, he said. The newer machines are made with plastic exteriors and plastic parts.

One recent morning, shortly after rolling up the metal security gate, a woman in a uniform parked her small yellow bus in front of his shop and entered the store for a pickup. Hector explained the fixes the machines needed, then helped her carry two machines into her bus. She gave him cash and they warmly shook hands. One of the machines looked like it could be used as a movie prop from a 1920 period film. He estimated it is 70 years old but, with repairs, still working.

The shop is about 16 feet by 16 feet. It had two rooms, a wall through the middle with an opening in the back to connect both spaces. Both rooms are full of sewing machines of different classes and ages on shelves and tables.

The storefront side has a glass window facing the street with crowded shelves inside displaying machines. On the right is Hector’s workbench where he spends hours fixing sewing machines.

On the walls hang smaller items for sale. Needle plates, clippers, bobbins, hip rulers, oil, zippers, and many different kinds of feet. The other room is filled with shelves and a long table, covered with a variety of commercial machines.

When Hector was 15 years old and living in his hometown of Pereira, Colombia, he wanted to be an auto mechanic. He enrolled in a technical school but the intro classes for auto mechanics were full. There was, however, availability to enter the sewing machine repair class and he decided to give it a try.

Hector was fascinated when his class completely disassembled a sewing machine into countless parts and then learned how to reassemble the machine.

“It was amazing,” Hector said. “It was wonderful for me.”

At age 30, Hector left Colombia for Sunset Park. “Everyone wants something good for the family, a better life for the family.”

With his experience and work ethic, he found a job in Brooklyn immediately. “That day I started to work,” he said. Thirty-five years later he continues plying his craft.