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The Seedy, Controversial Rise of the Sewing Machine King
How an itinerant actor and bigamist became an American tycoon
Sewing machines don’t seem like that big of a deal these days. Very few of us make or mend our own clothes; our society is too focused on convenience, consumerism, and disposability these days. Most sewing machines are probably consigned to a fate similar to the one I own — boxed up behind the Christmas decorations in the basement. It’s been there, unused, for a decade.
But the sewing machine was once cutting-edge technology — a transformative invention in its time. It first altered the industrial world and then became ubiquitous in middle-class homes. Even the earliest, most primitive sewing machine could do its work seven times faster than someone working by hand; later models could work 20–30 times faster and with more standardized results.
Sewing machines helped to create the modern clothing industry. People now could buy ready-made clothes right off the rack, and they were able to afford enough clothing to vary their wardrobe more frequently. Millions of women were employed as seamstresses in the new industry.
The sewing machine also saved women an immense amount of domestic labor — all of theit patching and mending became much easier to do. How significant was it…
