Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1893-12-09
1T WILL SOON BE A LOST ART.
City Women are Forgetting How to Sew
Even on Machines.


Even on Machines.
Sewing is rapidly becoming a lost
art. There are reasons for believing
that twenty-five years hence sewing
machines will be as rare if not as or
namental as the spinning wheels are
to-day. A sewing chair, a work-baSkct
and a ''hussy" We're among the essen
tial articles of every brides outfit.
Now the demand for these womanly
belongings is so slight as to be called
insignificant trade by the managers of
dry-goods and household furniture
firms. Thimbles of gold and silver
used to be considered staple goods.
Now only few are sold, and nearly
all are of inexpensive pattern and
childrens sizes.
1t is the fault of the dry-goods mcr
chants that New York women have
quit sewing. Ready made suits, under
wear, aprons, sheets and pillow cases
are offered at such reasonable prices
that it does not pay a woman to sew
whose time is worth anything. Temp
tations are set forth in every line of
goods. For instance, beautiful honey
comb quilts are on sale to-day at ST.
The ends are raw, it is true, but all
the firm charges for hemming them is
L
settles quilts are already hemmed. The
same is true Of linen tablecloths
Cheap napkins come fringed; better
goods are already hemmed the finest
linen made for napkins comes in pieces
of from one to three dozen. If the GUS
toner wishes, the house will cut, hem
and laundry a dozen napkins for 80
cents and deliver them in less than
two days. lis work is beautifully
done, with an absolutely true hem
stitched on the very edge with 4 fine
thread and a loose tension. Even the
dish toWelling comes ready for use
Unhemmed handkerchiefs are unheard
of now, although a few years ago fur
nishing goods as well as dry goods
dealers carried them hemmed and
raw Handkerchiefs for children
that sell at so cents and 81 a dozen
are ready for use.
Towels are either fringed or hem
stitched; so are sheets, tray-cloths.
table and bureau covers. Ready-made
pillow-cases, bolster covers and shams
are cheaper than the raw material
could be bought for at retail, and more
neatly made than the average house
keeper could do them by hand or
machine.
L VI LItllS obJtClluH WIS IdlStu 10
these shop goods on account of the
tight chain stitch, which broke and
ripped in the laundry; now the very
perfection of machine sewing is put on
the cheapest goods. More than that,
If an article is sOled it is Numbered by
the house. Some New York firms send
out the fine qualities of bedroom and
table linen hemmed, washed and iron
ed, and ready for immediate use. Nice
lessons, too, incidentally may be learn
ed from this practice. Aside from the
exquisite stitching, the linen is snow
white and understanding, not from
Sachet powder but absolute cleanness.
and ironed with the finest peculiar to
the French mode.
1t is true that pretense is made of
teaching sewing in the public schools,
but the teachers know as little as the
pupils about the art. The average wo-
man in European society has a needle
of some sort in her hands after and be-
tween the cares of the day; this is
characteristic, too, of the American
women who live on farms or in cOun-
try towns. In New York women don't
sew. They rock and read. Even darn
ing is at a discount since hosiery deal
ers began darning stockings purchased
at their houses free of charge.