Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1903-07-09
QUICK SHIRT MAKING
One of the Garments Turned Out
in Six and One Half Minutes.
The Process of Manufacture as Car
ried On in These Days Illustrates
Wonders of Modern
Enterprise.

In these days when shirt can be
turned out buttonholes and all, at the
rate of one in every 6H minutes,
a second one to your name, and pos
sibly could the heroine of Hoods
Song of the Shirt" look in upon
modern shirt factory she would be
even more disconsolate than the poet
painted her. says the New York Sun.
To satisfy his own curiosity, the
reporter visited a factory and told
the superintendent that he would like
to start at the beginning and follow
a single shirt from the cutter to the
fnisher. The foreman turned him
over to the forewoman, who piloted
him safely among 800 machines and
as many girls, and eventually let him
out into the open air unhurt.
1--WE will begin here" she said'
walking over to 6O-foot table. ION
this we lay the goods, layer upon lay
err, after which the marker comes
along and marks out the shirts. The
second step is to cut these 6o-foot
strips into squares, each one of which
contains a whole shirt, and then they
are taken to the cutters table"
And passing to another part OF the
room she pointed to a young man
who was pulling a slab of cloth
around a knife, run by electricity,
with all the nonchalance he would
have exhibited had it been a pine
board.
"How many shirts can you cut at
time?" asked the visitor, seeing the
young man saving away at pile
of goods several inches thick.
Usually 800. You see that all the
different parts of the garment such
as collars, cuffs, etc, are marked out
on that square he is at work on
and when he runs the knife along ev-
cry line he has cut each part re-
ouired, so that it can go direct to
the machines"
The cutting was one OF the most
interesting sights in the factory. In
the center of the table was long,
sharp knife, run at great speed by
electricity, and the cutter was saw
ing through 300 thicknesses of cloth
rapidly, but with mathematical pre-
cision. In ten hours he can cut 2So
Dozen, or 5000 shirts.
Selecting half a dozen pieces OF
black silk, which, she said, were an
embryonic shirt, the forewoman de-
scended to the next floor where the
machines were situated.
The first girls into whose hanos
tbev pass must be expert Seamstress-
es. No. took them and rapidly
fashioned the bosom, after which
thew were passed to No. 2, who fast-
ened on the collar and sewed In the
back.
Before the visitor knew what had
become of it, third had made the
sleeves and fourth was sewing them
in the proper places. No grabbed
the shirt and quickly scanned up the
sleeves and the two sides OF the SHIRT
which, up to this time, had been n.y.
ing open. No. 6 hemmed the bottom
and put in the gussets and then NO.
finished the cuffs.
At this stage, the garment usually
goes to the inspector, who looks IL
over carefully 10 see that the work
is well done, but this being special
case it was given directly to the but
ton and buttonhole girls. The latter
turns a machine that automatically
works the buttonhole first and cuts
it afterward.
She makes 1880 buttonholes day.
or % a minute. All the operator mas
to do at this machine is to place the
garment in proper position and the
machine works around, and when the
circuit is complete an AUTOMATIC
knife drops down and cuts the mole
Equally interesting is the next ana
last machine, which sews on the Dut-
TONS There were seven on this par
+icular shirt, and when the last one
was in it's place the forewoman an
nounced that the garment was nm
ished and asked:
GLOW long do you suppose II mas
taken to make this shirt?" and them
as she. and not the interested spec
tator. had been keeping time repiled
TO her own question: Just SIX ana
half minutes"