The sewing machine was on the table backward. She may have borrowed it from the main house. Servants probably had to make their own uniforms, but like someone said above, she was sewing curtains & such. Anna may have used the machine on a larger table & just moved it to the smaller table when not in use, or moved the table out from the wall when sewing, so sitting from the other side, or the prop people set the machine on the table not knowing, & nobody on the crew caught that it was backward. Just before this episode I was wondering why the women were not shown doing embroidery. Then Cora was sewing something in a small hoop this last time. For anyone wanting to see the sewing machine, it is at 1:32 out of a total of 1:53, so almost to the end.