The Sewing Machine

The Sewing Machine

The Sewing Machine

The Sewing Machine
  I. Introduction to Sewing Machines

Many names surface when researching who invented the sewing machine. Elias Howe, Isaac M. Singer and Edward Clark are the primary players.   Howe was an inventor of the sewing machine, but there were many others, and Singer and Clark were the marketing genius.   Sewing machines were the “best boon to woman in the nineteenth century,” according to the New York Times.  
The year was 1851 according to History Today, that the Singer Sewing machine was patented.   Isaac M. Singer did not invent the sewing machine, but he did design the first practical and efficient one; he followed that with mass production and buying on credit (History Today, 2001).
  II. Age of Realism or the Industrial Revolution

Women’s work is never done, especially if she has to hand sew all the linens for the home, and all the clothing. The sewing machine was a tremendous labor saving machine.   According to Godey’s Lady’s Book, ti took about 14 hours to make a man’s dress shirt and at least 10 hours to make a simple dress by hand.   With a sewing machine the time decreases to 1 hour 15 minutes for the man’s shirt and 1 hour for the dress.   This machine would transform the lives of women.  
Sewing machines changed more than just a woman’s life.   Industrial use of sewing machine to make shoes and garments was just the beginning of mass production in the 1850s.   This put the small tailor shops and shoe makers out of business eventually.   When the sewing machines got motors and ran on electric, these factories became known a sweat shops.   Eventually this led to unions and the government intervening with workplace standards (Museum of American Heritage, 2010, April 22).    
A poem was written by Thomas Hood, 1789-1845 in London, England it tells the sad tale and physical toll on women with the task of hand sewing.
“The Song of the Shirt”
With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A...