One of the oddest stats I came across recently. Apparently there was once a thriving sewing industry run by the Relief Society.

The background. In 1961 there were 231,175 members of the Relief Society in 4,933 wards and branches

They ownes 4,631 sewing machines and they sewed

Quilts 22,571
Children clothes 53,699
Women's clothes 78,035
Men's clothes 3,581
Misc 377,967

I don't remember anything about this program but with one machine per ward, may have been localized?

Nearly all of the women in the church in 1960 who sewed would have owned their own sewing machines and probably would have preferred using their own machines. Why did the individual ward Relief Society units need sewing machines? My paternal grandmother wouldn't have been especially wealthy at that time yet had her own machine as well as one for each daughter old enough to need one.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2019 08:51PM by scmd1.

Not necessarily. Lot's of young married women would likely not be able to afford a sewing machine of their own. I'm guessing the above mentioned program would have been making a machine available for loaning out, like through the library or something. Not sure.

I suppose it's possible, but it would have been one of the very first things they bought (or received as wedding gifts)if they actually had sewing skills. The machines would pay for themselves in no time if the woman was very skilled. They could be picked up second-hand quite cheaply. I suppose if there were a very small number of women without the machines in a ward, a single machine might be of use in the ward.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2019 08:53PM by scmd1.

It was a lot more common for women back in the 60s (and before) to own sewing machines. My mom had one as did the moms of my friends. It was a part of the culture. The girls took sewing in home economics classes in school, and our mothers also sent us to private sewing lessons. Accomplished sewers could knock out a dress in one afternoon.

Clothing bought from stores was a lot more expensive back then. Now we get inexpensive clothing imported from all over the world, but years ago this was not the case. Sewing your own clothes and home furnishings made a lot more sense back then. For women with the requisite skills it would have saved their families a lot of money.

I wasn't born until the mid 80's, but even then, every LDS woman I knew owned a sewing machine, and most of my friends' moms in CA who were not LDS also owned them. Even women who lacked sufficient sewing skills to create garments (as in units of clothing, not magic underwear) or quilts needed them for hemming and repairs.

I doubt that a system in which a sewing machine owned by a ward Relief Society was checked out by ward members would have been very functional . Every sewing machine had its own quirks as I recall, and the owners learned to deal with their own machines. A machine owned by the ward and checked out would have been non-operational more than it was operational. It wouldn't have been handled as carefully as most women handled their own machines.

Back in the day, an LDS woman's financial situation may have determined the newness and quality of her sewing machine, but she probably owned one nonetheless.

If a ward Relief society owned a sewing machine, odds are that it was a really choice machine and that it was in the almost exclusive possession of the R.S. president or possibly the homemaking counselor. The membership likely never had the opportunity to check it out and may not even have known of its existence.

I still remember women sewing clothing in the 80s, but I think it started to fade out as the decade progressed. Women were starting to enter the workforce in large numbers, and likely had less time to construct clothing. I'm not sure when the cheaper imported clothes began to come in, but there were discount stores such as Burlington and T.J. Maxx back in the 80s, along with outlet stores, so women who needed to could find inexpensive things to wear.

The large department stores where I lived only had big twice a year sales back then. People would flock to those sales. Eventually the department stores started to mark things down more frequently in order to complete. Now you can get prices that are marked down almost every weekend.

Some people still like to sew, of course. My sister-in-law still had my mom's old metal Singer sewing machine, and it is still operational. She makes curtains for me along with the odd hemming job.

Two of my sisters still sew. My mom sewed a great deal back in the day, but only quilts and does special-occasion projects now.

My wife has a sewing machine. She quilts and makes our children's Halloween costumes. She made PJs for the nieces and nephews for Christmas one year, but she found that it was far more trouble than it'was worth.

Yup. Sewing machines were a common household item. My mom was an Episcopalian and sewed a lot. I should probably dig out her machine and tons of Simplicity patterns she used--you know, the ones where the lady on the cover always looked Laura Petrie or Jackie Kennedy...

My family joined the tscc around this time and my mother who was a professional dressmaker/designer, was immediately called to first a ward RS position, and then a Stake position. In the ward there was,as I recall a sewing machine available, but of course my mother had her own. The RS at that time (not yet aligned with the Priesthood) kept a full set of women's burial clothes on hand. I remember my mother making the dress part, all white and trimmed with lace, while other sisters made the mocccasins, and slip and other underwear. It was beautiful, and had little flaps on the bottom of the sleeve that covered the hands in case of burns or disfigurment. The temple robes were supplied by the family. Also there was a complete set of baby clothes kept in the cupboard (new and handmade) and fabric. My mother was given the fabric on several occasions to make clothes for people in need. They came to our home to be fitted.

RS then was lovely. I also loved it as a new wife and mother. We had craft lessons and lots of other lessons on nutrition etc. While the standard and the pressure on young women with families was ridiculous (you know you weren't worthy if your house wasn't spotless, but of course the fact that you were pregnant AGAIN and feeling awful was overlooked), I loved it. We learned so much and it appealed to my ability to decorate my home and make clothes for myself and my children, and was a light in some very dark places for me.

but she did later on. I believe her sewing machine is still at the house in a closet. My grandmother had a really old one (which one of my cousins inherited) and she had a newer one. They sewed everything we wore except our underwear--the girls. My grandmother made quilts for as long as I can remember and my mother learned later.

The work days at R.S. were often spent with many women working on quilts. My mother loved quilting. I have a quilt she quilted and a patchwork quilt top my grandmother made that I need to have finished.

I think most people in the 1960s made their own clothes. It is no longer cheaper to sew your own clothes.

Oh, every person who got married in our ward got a quilt up until they changed the program and no longer had daytime R.S.

Nothing is worth making or growing anymore. Food and clothing cheaper when produced by efficient industrial machinery and cheap foreign labor.

Smarter to get a job and buy everything.

Don’t know if anyone will cook in a few years.

More time to sit and stare at screens

Oh, I don't know about that. People who sew their own clothes nowadays don't do it to save money. They do it to express their creativity. As for growing food, there is nothing like eating a meal where the vegetables, salad, and herbs were picked an hour before. My brother and his wife are both retired, and they have an extensive vegetable and herb garden. They grow heirloom tomatoes and other vegetable varieties that you can't buy in stores. Every year they enjoy some favorite varieties along with some new selections to try out. Their tomato crop this year is outstanding.

Free Man Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nothing is worth making or growing anymore.
> Food and clothing cheaper when produced by
> efficient industrial machinery and cheap foreign
> labor.
>
> Smarter to get a job and buy everything.
>
> Don’t know if anyone will cook in a few years.
>
> More time to sit and stare at screens

Things are worth making for the pleasure of doing so.

However, I have saved money on some items by making them myself. I have made a series of birdboxes for example, which I hung up on trees near my home. I made them using bits of wood I found dumped on a sidewalk. My only financial cost (other than the tools) were the glue and nails.

Well, it sounds like you richly deserved the merit badge.

I remember in the 70's when my mom got her sewing machine. It was quite expensive. Prices came way down in the 80's and they were available in lots of stores, not just places that specialized in sewing and vacuums. But the price of fabric started to go up also in the 80's and premade clothes became very cheap. So it wasn't worth it to make your own clothes anymore. People who did so did it mostly for their own creative satisfaction.

One of my sisters who sews just told me that she almost never actually sews anything from scratch anymore other than costumes - she has six kids - but she uses her sewing machine almost every day to alter something or to repair something. Repair jobs hold so much better if they're done by machine.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2019 02:41AM by scmd1.

About 11 years ago or so the stake I was living in in Colorado had a stake project. The project was to sow quilts for a local woman's shelter. Before the quilts were donated they had them neatly showcased at a building for everyone to see. If I remember correctly over 200 quilts made by Relief Society were donated.

The women pitched in and helped each other finish quilts, baby clothes and items some of the sisters needed to finish fast. The sewing machine in the relief society room came in handy because they could stitch whatever needed to be done without taking it home to finish.

I didn't know of anyone who used the ward owned machine totally in place of one at home or at a close friend's or relative's house.

Thanks for the information. That makes sense.

Yes, Cheryl, there was a sense of COMMUNITY then. People helped with truly constructive things. They also taught each other. I remember women sharing clothes and altering too. This was a big help when it came to maternity clothes and kids clothes. A generation back from me they also "cut down" adult clothes for the teens/kids.

The whole community feeling really died when they started doing everything on Sunday and closed down the kitchens. RS used to be a time for women to bond.

Yes. It does make sense.

Members donated time, machines, fabric, materials, parts, skills and bonding and tscc claims the whole deal.

Pretty much all the female members of my family owned sewing machines and knitting and many of them were pretty good with them when it came to repairing clothes. Some of these sewing machines were actually quite old, and at least once had a pedal to power it. Some of them were handed down.

I can sew a little and I think it is a skill everyone can learn. I had two pairs of identical pants which both had the same fault - the seams came undone above the pockets. I was able to stitch these together a bit more strongly, and I think I have made them last at least five times what rhey would otherwise.

Most RS members had one sewing machine, but the one coveted item was a serger to finish off a raw seam. They are still kind of expensive. I remember women serging for other women if they were lucky enough to own one.
I have an old black singer sewing machine with all the contraptions to make a button hole. I rarely use it but I am not ready to junk it yet. My mom bought it in the 50's.
Daughter was very impressed to see me whip up a pirate costume in 30 minutes for her Halloween party. "Wow! you really know how!" Every girl in my generation learned to sew, It was required for home economics at school(7th grade?)and our moms taught us at home and at church. There were also sewing 4-H clubs in the neighborhoods.
There used to be a "Mormon Handicraft" store near temple square where women could sell their handmade items.

Yup.You heard that right. MORMON Handicraft.

My Mom had two sewing machines. Her modern Singer and her antique pedal one. I was taught to work the needle and thread. I even had a companion as a missionary that liked to sew so we made our own alterations on our slacks. It's a great skill to have.