Just recently I made a dress for my granddaughter, Jude. I love the feel of the advancing fabric and the hum of the engine. I keep it and several others in the craft room at my farm in New York. I still have my grandmother’s Singer sewing machine, recently refurbished and in perfect working order. Even today I still examine seams, tucks, gathers, hems and all the different ways that clothes are made. I learned a lot on that machine, sewing with it for many years and experimenting with construction and design. I even sewed my own wedding dress with the help of my mother, who assisted with the extensive tailoring.Īs a newlywed, my first sewing machine was a Singer with the most up-to-date features of the 1960s, a gift from my in-laws. I made Balenciaga and Dior and Givenchy and fell in love with couture. I kept sewing throughout my college years and made all my fancy clothes from designer patterns I got from my friend’s glamorous aunt, who owned a dress shop called Chez Ninon. These were early lessons in diligence, attention to detail and self-reliance.
#What year is my singer sewing machine how to
Mother taught me tailoring, interfacing, bias cutting and how to make bound and handmade buttonholes. I took sewing courses in the Nutley public schools and learned to make a blouse with set-in sleeves and a yoke and collar a pair of cuffed shorts with a zippered-fly front and a circle skirt. My sisters and I started out with small projects like aprons and dishtowels, but we were mostly interested in clothes. She kept the machine in a corner of our kitchen in Nutley, New Jersey.
My mother inherited a Singer machine from her mother, and she was constantly sewing-her own clothes, clothes for her three daughters, Halloween costumes for all six of her children, and gifts for friends and family. His machine revolutionized manufacturing and industry, transforming the lives of millions and making Singer a very rich man-a classic American story. The $50 price tag was steep, but Singer sold thousands on the installment plan. Though the machine was originally designed for manufacturing, Singer saw its domestic potential and created a lighter weight version, which he hauled to country fairs, circuses and social gatherings, dazzling the womenfolk.
8,294 was a vast improvement upon earlier versions, capable of 900 stitches a minute-at a time when the most nimble seamstress could sew about 40. When I look at this iconic machine-sturdy, practical, dependable-I think about how it revolutionized homemaking in America and shaped my personal history as well.
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