BAY MINETTE, Ala. — It’s such a simple (to us) idea. A machine  that drives a needle into layers of cloth, joining a thread on top  with one on the bottom to make a stitch.But as simple as that seems to us, it was revolutionary in the late  1800s when the first practical home sewing machines came on the  market. Until then, everything a family wore — pants, shirts,  dresses, etc. —were made by hand-stitching.

The sewing machine changed all that. Now an experienced seamstress or  tailor could produce an article of well-made clothing in a few hours.  Longer, if extensive  tailoring was required, but basic garments  could be run together quickly.Patterns for garments, which originally came in one size that the  sewer had to re-work for the wearer, started coming out in sizes.The golden era of home sewing had begun.Growing up, Julia Harris was a part of that. Now 82, she is a  resident of the Oakwood — North Baldwin’s Center for Living nursing  home in Bay Minette. Her mother and other relatives taught her to  sew, and in 1959, she acquired her mother’s Singer Featherlight machine.“My mother bought it in 1953, recalled Harris. “By 1959, it was mine.”Harris used the light (about 11 pounds) machine for quiltmaking (one  of its more popular uses today), and she says she has a foot-treadle- powered Singer in her Mobile home as well.The machine saw more than quilting duty.“I used to make dresses with it,” recalled Harris, who has four sons  and one daughter. “I made a dress for my daughter that she wore to a  Mardi Gras ball.”Harris smiled when she recalled the gown that started out with a  pattern, but she began “designing it on my own.”Harris recalled, “It was strapless with sleeves. The dress was purple  and the crinolines were white.”She would make wedding gowns and women’s suits and “all kinds of  dresses.”She made matching shirts for her sons and, “anything else that came  along. We did not have stores to buy things, so you had to make them.”The portable Featherlight made the trip with her to Bay Minette.  Harris keeps it locked up in the director’s office when not in use,  but a pile of mending on a stool in her room attests to Harris’ claim  that the vintage machine is “still working.”She said, “People bring me fabric and bring me repairs. Pants,  blouses are things I make. I have to stitch up a sweater.”She recalls making a Halloween costume for a staff member.“It was a jumper, and I took the waist off and made a poodle skirt  out of it,” said Harris.North Baldwin staff member Jenny Hansen pointed out that when Harris  is not sewing she “folds all our calendars for us to mail out.”“I have to keep my hands busy,” said Harris. “If I don’t, I go nuts.  So I dabble in this and dabble in another.”And she has not forgotten how to use needle and thread by hand.“I still do embroidery,” she said. She mentioned that her daughter  had made a quilt and she embroidered the top of the quilt. A  partially hand-stitched quilt was part of the neat “to do” pile in  her room.“I’m hand-stitching this quilt for my great-granddaughter,” she said.  In all, Harris says she has 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.Harris has always been busy with her hands.“I used to work at a fish market,” said Harris, adding that if she  got a cut she would “slap on a Band-Aid.”But some things stand out in her mind.“I was cleaning a 53-pound yellow catfish,” said Harris. “I looked at  the door and saw a bunch of people standing and looking.”As for Harris’ faithful Singer, she does not “know who will get it.”“None of my children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren sew,” she  said.