"I dried enough peaches to buy me a sewing machine." --Mary Ann Hafen ( p. 61)

The invention of the sewing machine had a major effect upon clothing and the speed at which fashion changed in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Elias Howe received the first patent in 1846 for a machine that created a seam using the eye of a needle and a shuttle that would interlock threads. William Grover and Allen Wilson each received patents for devices we call the feed-dogs and a lock stitch. The company of Wilson and Wheeler was famous for their lock stitch which interlocked the threads in a way where they couldn't ravel. The man we most remember for his 1851 patent was Isaac Merit Singer. He combined and refined many of the existing elements. A larger number of companies -- Florence and Pratt are just two, followed with the development of their own machines.

It took a while for the benefits of the sewing machine to be recognized. It was first used in the manufacture of shoes. The sewing machine gave birth to the ready to wear. Production of ready-made or mass produced clothing was now a reality. By 1857, Charles Worth had adopted the use of the sewing machine for production of the fine French designer gowns. The sewing machine allowed designers to add more flounces and frills. Soon the dressmaker needed the machine just to keep up with the trends in fashion which would have taken too much time to do by hand.

The sewing editors from Godey's Lady's Book did an experiment with the machines and published the results in the August 1860 issue. They hired four different workers and timed the difference between doing the same tasks by hand and by machine. Not surprisingly, they also discovered the quality of the stitching was often more consistent than the hand stitching. Here is some of what they discovered:

-- Godey's Lady's Book, August 1860

By the 1860s, women were beginning to consider this machine "most useful" and "indispensable." for the household. The sewing machine was introduced in female colleges and schools for young ladies teaching the art form of design and dressmaking with the newest technology. Mary Ann Hafen's machine cost her $42 and it took her two years of drying peaches while her husband, John, was on a mission. She used the machine as she sewed for others to support her family. (Hafen, 61) Other women were known to combine resources to purchase a machine. They created sewing clubs. Depending upon the number of members in the club, they were each allowed so many days a month to use the sewing machine. The clubs also gave women an opportunity to share knowledge, practices and learn about the operation and maintenance of the machine.

And the rest, as they say, is history...