On our last trip to New Orleans we arranged to have a machine delivered to Marilyn…a most inspirational woman. Marilyn lost her sewing machine in Hurricane Katrina and had missed sewing so much. What really struck me, though, was the story of her history.
Marilyn grew up in a family of 12 children- 8 girls and 4 boys. Her grandmother and mother taught the girls to sew and set them up in an assembly line to sew clothes for the family and anything else needed for their home. One girl would sew all the straight seams, one would do all the facings, one would do the hemming, etc. The girls worked on two treadle machines. Later on, a man came through their neighborhood, selling motor and they added motors to these two machines.
Developing patterns for the clothing they made was a truly incredible and inspiring process. African American people, at that time, were not allowed to try on clothing or shoes in the department stores in New Orleans so the girls would go to the store and find a dress they liked and sketch it. From that sketch, their grandmother would develop a pattern. After that process was complete they could determine how much fabric they would need and go back to the store and buy the fabric.
We were thrilled to provide Marilyn with a sewing machine and she was so happy to receive it.
Each and every one of us lives a story and I am so happy that The Sewing Machine Project can provide embellishment to so many peoples’ stories.
Everyone lives a story
