Customers attend the workshop attached to the Shanghai Sewing Machine Shop to learn tailoring skills. Photos by Yong Kai / China Daily

The Shanghai Sewing Machine Shop still sells the iconic old-fashioned Butterfly brand sewing machine.

The Shanghai Sewing Machine Shop, once renowned for the sale of one of the country's oldest brand of sewing machines, Butterfly, reopens. Yu Ran reports.

The reopening of an old shop in June was a trip down memory lane for a number of Shanghai's middle-aged and elderly residents. Gazing fondly at the iconic Butterfly brand sewing machine at the Shanghai Sewing Machine Shop, 46-year-old Li Huaqiu says, "I have one at home which was given to me by my mother. She used to stitch all my clothes when I was young."

Indeed, even in the 1970s, a sewing machine was an essential item of a girl's dowry.

Li was in the shop to pick up an automated version of the Butterfly model, saying she, too, wished to sew clothes as her mom did but not on the old one that is operated by foot lever.

Zhao Guihua, a 30-year-old tour guide in Shanghai, who treated herself to a model imported from Japan, says: "I never learned to sew but used to be fascinated seeing my grandparents sew. It always felt like they were playing some musical instrument. I think it will be a lot of fun to make small items myself."

She adds she, too, is smitten by the do it yourself (DIY) bug. She enjoys making items to decorate her desk at work and to give to her friends as gifts.

Founded in the 1960s, the Shanghai Sewing Machine Shop was located in the old town center and sold the Butterfly brand sewing machine.

"The store was shut down about five years ago amid redevelopment of the area and falling demand for sewing machines," shop manager Wu Yin says.

"We want to bring the sewing machine back into the lives of the older generation, while also passing on sewing culture to the younger crowd," Wu says.

The old-style Butterfly, made in 1920, is now a shop exhibit that attracts not only locals but also tourists.

The shop now also stocks the latest automatic models from such venerated names as Singer from the United States, Eina from Switzerland and Brother from Japan.

"They are really easy to use, and people like to buy them for quick repair jobs, such as mending tears and refastening zippers and buttons," Wu says.

Besides the machines, the shop also stocks a variety of threads, scissors and other sewing accessories.

"I've lived in Shanghai since last year with my family and this is the first time I have come across a shop with such a great variety of materials that will greatly help my work," says a middle-aged fashion designer from the Philippines, who declined to give her name.

It was not very long ago in China that families, faced with hard times, would turn to their trusty home sewing machine to make and patch-up clothes for its members.

With the dramatic reversal in fortunes, today's sewing enthusiasts are typically white-collar workers, aged between 20 and 30, who are very interested in DIY handicrafts, says Fang Xiaojun, who teaches sewing in a workshop attached to the store and picked up her skills in Japan.

Fang, who runs two other sewing classes in the city, says they cater to a range of abilities and can even offer professional training.

"I came here to buy a sewing machine for my wife when I noticed the workshop. I think she would definitely like to spend some time here making clothes with her friends," Fang Chengsheng, a 29-year-old office worker, says.

Fang says his wife and her friends often get together to make clothes and bags when they have the time.