June 13, 2019 (Thursday)
Sewing Machine Day celebrates a very important invention —– the sewing machine. The first sewing machines were made in France in the 1830s. It wasn’t until 1846, that they were patented in the U.S. What a great invention. Prior to its creation, clothes items were sewn together by hand…stitch by stitch.
People who know how to use a sewing machine are dwindling in number. Our mothers and grandmothers had a sewing machine in the house. They used it, too. But, look around your house. Do you have a sewing machine? Chance are, the answers is no.
Wanda with her new sewing machine in 1953
We had been married only weeks when Wanda got her first sewing machine. She was an excellent seamstress and made clothes through the years for the family. She wore out several sewing machines during her lifetime. The last one she had was given to her by the church at Rockport on our 30th anniversary as pastor and music director (I was given a notebook computer). Would you believe that was 25 years ago?
My grandmother had a sewing machine that ran only when the user’s feet were placed on the treadle and given a see-saw motion. As a small child, I was fascinated by the treadle and had to be cautioned just about every day to stop playing with it. That was a long, long time ago, but I think it may have already qualified as an antique.
One of my jobs while in the seminary was in a granary-feed store. I did many different things at that place. Among other things, we made chicken feed, filled 50-pound bags with it, and sewed the top of the bag shut with a sewing machine suspended from the ceiling. It was, of course, powered by electricity.
We also had a very tiny mobil sewing machine that you could pack with your luggage and sew “on the road.” I never got the knack of that, but I think Wanda knew how to use it. We didn’t use it much, however.
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