Sewing is technology
While on maternity leave, I picked up again on the hobbies that I enjoy that are, well, decidedly feminine but have quite an edge of technology to them. For example, sewing involves a rather complicated machine and patterns and an ability to envision things in three dimensions and reverse and inside out and so on. There is a lot of engineering ability in sewing and other crafts like knitting. Technology geekery and crafting have an intersection on websites like Craft magazine at craftzine.com, I’d call it a “sister” publication to Make magazine. Shows like Knitty Gritty, hosted by an Austinite, also showcase the hipness of knitting.
Back in March on The View, Rosie O’Donnell said that she was using eBay to buy a sewing machine from the 70s just like the one that she learned on as a girl because trying to learn a new machine was just too frustrating. I imagine there are other examples of technology that is relatively unchanged through the years, but where else but in the world of sewing can you find machines that still work exactly as they used to more than 30 years ago? I no longer have the machine I learned on, but I can identify with Rosie’s dilemma. Fortunately I was given a rather fancy used machine from my mom the amazing quilter. It is quite high-tech as sewing machines go, and I constantly refer to the manual since it has programmable stitching and requires interchangeable feet for different stiches. But the basics are still familiar, such as threading the upper thread, preparing the bobbin thread, and getting the bobbin thread to come up through the bottom of the machine – all these are very similar to the two other machines I’ve ever used. So when Rosie said that she couldn’t even figure out the bobbin for a new sewing machine that she bought for her daughter, I had to agree with her decision to buy the old tried and trusted machine of her youth on eBay.
To me, the technical writing involved in sewing and patterns is a fascinating subject. In fact, Katherine Durack, one of the technical communications professors at Miami University (where I went to graduate school) published a paper in 1997 about sewing patterns and their history through the years titled, “Patterns for Success: A Lesson In Usable Design from U.S. Patent Records.” Really interesting stuff. Here’s the abstract: Investigates the design history of women’s household sewing patterns as that history is recorded in United States Patent Records. Finds that the history of home sewing patterns illustrates a key aspect of usable design: the interrelationship between a device and its documentation and the way changes to both enhance overall product usability.
While mostly women sew as a hobby, I think the car makeover shows are giving young boys a good look at a potential career in reupholstering car seats and the like. We have a framed appliquéd picture in my son’s room that my husband did when he was a boy, in fact, so I know the art and craft and technology of sewing won’t be lost on my boys. And the lessons learned from sewing transfer easily to other engineering projects, I believe. So time spent learning to sew is time well spent in preparation for other scientific and technological endeavors.