Georgetta and Ella Manser were seamstresses in Cincinnati in the 1880s. At the time, thousands of "sewing girls" worked in the city, assisting dressmakers, tailors, and other clients with basic tasks. Most worked long hours and were poorly paid. Georgetta and Ella's mother described their work in an 1885 letter:
"The girls have to work very steadily from early morn till night, have no time for recreation, but their labor enables them to meet all the expenses and keep a nice home over our heads, and they grow fat on it...I do not think you can have any idea how much sewing they can do. Their custom is very large and constantly increasing. They have to refuse work almost every day. At present they cannot take a new order till June they have so much in the house. Besides they have orders up to November, a whole wedding outfit to make through the summer. They have over a hundred garments in the house."
Many local dressmakers served clients beyond Louisville. Mary Cummings Eudy preferred out-out-town business and had sales representatives in many cities. Eudy's most famous patron was Sara Delano Roosevelt, mother of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Ms. Roosevelt ordered several dresses, scarves, and bags from Eudy in 1937 and 1938. She wore one of the dresses to her son's presidential inauguration.
Mary Cummings Eudy brought her creativity to every aspect of ashion, even designing jewelry to accompany her dresses. She drew detailed sketches to show her out-of-town clients, storing them in leather design books that were updated each spring and fall. Does the dress sketched here look familiar?
