Queen of Inventions: How the Sewing Machine Changed the World

I bought this book for myself, as a quick overview of the history of sewing machines. I have no experience with children's books. It met the need. Entertaining and thought-provoking. I wish some of the pictures had captions; I can't tell what they're making. I'm not so sure that "skirts got fuller and fuller until they took up almost the whole room" was a consequence of the sewing machine's invention; I'm thinking of hoops and crinolines which were past their prime as the sewing machine moved into common use. Perhaps the author is thinking of some other type of full skirt. The mention of "freeing up time for girls' education" is possibly the most important connection to be made for the target audience.

Sometimes people are afraid of progress, and it might be hard for young history students to believe, but the earliest sewing machines caused tailors in France to tear down the doors of a small factory, grab the sewing machines and throw them all out the window! Professional hand-sewers feared that they would be put out of business, but for millions of people through the years, that hand sewing represented hours and hours of endless drudgery to create all the garments they and their families needed. That included sheets, towels, curtains, etc. Can you imagine how long that must take? The fastest hand stitcher couldn't match the one thousand stitches per minute produced by a machine! No wonder some people feared the sewing machine, but this "Queen of Inventions" was destined to revolutionize the lives of ordinary people of every social class. Wonderful old photographs and drawings bring the historical data to life, and the book also includes a list of suggested reading, websites, and bibliography.