The First Electric Sewing Machine

Today I spent another fascinating two hours with Marie. I took pictures and asked questions and took multitudes of notes. I told her that I have no clue where to start telling her stories. She just laughed and said, “Just start where you want to, I don’t care.”

One of the stories I thought was interesting was the certificate that she showed me in what she calls her Generation Book. This book must weigh at least twenty pounds. All pictures are labeled and dated. The very first thing she showed me is the certificate that you see at the top of this page. It is a certificate for completing a twelve week course at Singer Sewing Machine Co. This course taught ladies how to use the first electric sewing machine and how to perfectly sew and finish a garment. Her mother attended the course with her, but her English was broken and she had some trouble understanding, so Marie helped her mom and learned at the same time.
The language spoken in her parents home was French. Marie’s great great grandparents moved to the United States from Canada and spoke only French.
Marie has many many stories about the language barrier and the problems that arose because of this.
The sewing machine class was to promote itself as a career of over thirty two years of sewing professionally making men's trousers and doll clothes. I have made doll clothes a time or two and I didn’t like it at all. Marie and I will visit about the doll clothes factory more in the future.