littlebitoheaven

I didn't work in a factory but in my early 30s I got a job repairing clothes. I worked at a dress shop and if the customers broke the zipper, I replaced it. Jobs like that. One winter the store received a coat with two left arms. The manager was able to get a right arm from the factory and I put in the new arm. I have to say that I loved it! First of all I got to see all the new clothes first hand. Second of all, I used an industrial machine. I was very sad when I had to go back to being a secretary. I really loved sewing but not very lucrative and with 6 children needed a better paying job.

coopah

Hey, Ellago, I worked in my Dad's garage/gas station in northwestern PA. I was lucky, he used me as his bookkeeper at $1.00 an hour. At least I didn't have to do gas, windshields, etc. It paid off when I married and had to find a job while my husband was finishing college...worked at a gas station for a couple of months until I got a job teaching. Back in the day...I brought in about $300 a month for teaching. Getting to be older than dirt!

1bzygma

I worked in a sewing factory the summer before my sophomore year in college. Made me realize why unions were formed in the garment industry. The owner put me in charge of all the pressing, and packing. I was given a raise and one hour later she lost her temper and threw a hot steam iron at me. I quit and went to work for my dad on the fruit farm. Much better pay and less dangerous. I finished college, found a teaching job, and after 40 years, am retired and sewing!

sewnbug

In the early 70's I worked for Wolverine shoe factory sewing the back seams on womens shoes and boots.We ran mostly pigskin boots. One night I lost my my wedding band on the line. It slid off my finger from the dusty residue on the leather. The shoes/boots would be bundled in crates that came down the line and when we were finished with our job, we would put them back in the crate and send them down the line. They would end up back at the beginning of the line on this huge rack. We had to search every crate on the line and most of them on the rack, but we found my wedding band in the bottom of one of the crates. I took it in the next day to have it resized. My children were babies at the time and it was hard on me to leave them every night. My mom watched the babies, so they were at least with family, but when my son started calling my mom mama, that was it. I quit, and never took another job outside the home till my kids were both in school full time. And then they were always part-time temporary jobs like waitressing or cleaning cabins. I already had the most important job in the world to me. Being a MOM.

quiltmom04

I worked at Danskin in the summers during college. I sewed grosgrain ribbon on the necklines of body suits that would then get grommets for lacing. A VERY 1970's design! It was extremely boring, and made me more determined to stay in school.

mrs theo

I worked in a factory that made ladies panties. I was in packaging. I lasted all of six weeks!!! I am not one to stand in one spot all day long and do work that simply didn't require my brain, just my hands. I was 17 and I'm not sure how I made it as long as I did

madamekelly

I worked a Jantzen Knitting mills in the swimsuit division, making polyester swimsuits, in the early eighties. My thinking when I applied was, I love to sew so why not? Why not, was sewing in a factory is NOT like home sewing! I stayed just long enough to find a new job making television sets for A Japanese company. I liked that job but the hot plastic fumes became a problem so that did not last long either.

Lyncat

I worked in a garment factory the summer after I graduated from high school which made nightgowns. I was moved to a lot of different machines because I was a quick learner. I ended up doing free motion appliqué to sew lace down the front of fancy sets. There was clear thread on the top and off white to match the lace on the bottom. I was so bored that I started writing words and names in the lace backward so you could read them faintly on the back of the lace. Everyone I knew had their name on a nighty. I always wondered if someone found a name while folding their laundry. I stared at the time clock every day willing the time to go by. It was a great incentive to go to college!

maryquitecontrary

I worked in a factory that made tonau (sp?) covers for boats. I put in the vinyl windows and zippers. The zippers were very long. I left that job so I could make 25cents more at a factory that made the wiring componets for cars. That experience prompted me to return to college.

cherokeerose

I worked in a sewing factory in a small town in East TN, my junior and senior years in high school. At the first one we make men's/children's underwear. I sew the legs on the briefs. Like other said it was boring and every time you started making your quota (it was called production then) they would raise it. The entire back wall was a huge white board with our names and the number of the bundles you sewed each day. At the 2nd one, I sew collars for ladies blouses and blazers also set sleeves. Boring work, but in this same town factory work was all there was close at home.