The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1894-06-07
WILL SOON Be A LOST ART.
City Women Arc Forgetting How to
sew, Even on Machines.

Sewing is rapidly becoming lest
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. \ sewlng-chaIr, a WOrk-b as-
ket and a "hussy" were among the es-
sential articles of every brides outfit.
Now the demand for these womanlv
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 chill
dren's sizes.
1t is the fault of the dry goods mer-
chants that women have quit sewing.
Ready-mate suits, underwear, aprons,
sheets and pillow cases are offered at
such reasonable prices that it does not
pay n woman to sew whose time is
worth anything. Temptations are set
forth in every line of goods. For in
stance, beautiful honeycomb quilts
are on sale to-day at 81. The ends
are raw, it is true, but all the firm
charges for hemming them is 10 cents.
The best quality of Marseilles quias
are already hemmed. The same is
true of linen tableclOthS. Cheap nap
kins come fringed; better goods are
already hcmmed; the finest linen
made for napkins come in pieces of
from one to three dozen. If the GUS
toner wishes, the house will cut. hem
and laundry a dozen napkins for 50
cents and deliver them in less than
two DAYS. This work is beautifully
done with an absolutely true hem,
stitched on the very edge with a fine
thread and loose tension. Even the
dish tOWeling comes ready for use.
UDhemmed handkerchicfs are unheard
of now, although n few years ago fur
nishing goods as we'll as dry goods
dealers carried them hemmed and
raw" Handkerchiefs for children
that sell at 81 cents and 81 Il dozen are
ready for use.
Towels are either fringed or hem
stitched; so are sheets, tray-cloths,
table and bureau covers. Ready-made
piilow-Cases, bolster covers and sham5
are cheaper than the raw materia!
could be bought for at retail, and more
neatly made than the average house
keeper could do them by hand or ma
chine.
Formerly objection was raised to
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 sOiled it is Numbered by
the house. Some firms send out the
fine qualities of bedroom and table
linen hemmcd, washed and ironed and
ready for immediate use. Nice les
SEES, too, incidentally may be learned
from this practice. Aside from the
exquisite stitching, the linen is snow
white and understanding, not FROM
sachet powder, but absolute cleanncss,
and irOned with the finish peculiar to
the French mode.
1t is true that DretenSe is made of
teaching sewing in the public schools,
but the teachers know as little rs the
pupils about the art. The average
woman in European society has a
needle of some sort in her hands after
and between the cares of the day;
this is characteristic. too, of the Amer
lean women who live on farms or in
country towns. In big cities women
don't sew. They rock and read. Even
darning is at a discount since hosiery
dealers began darnin@ stockings pur-
chased at their houses tree of charge.