PRESENT TBENDS IN HOME SEWINO 8 



The studies of Ward, Wilkerson, and Leeds arc cited by Harap (7) 

 in his summary of the objectives involved in the toachinp of construc- 

 tion and care of clothing. 



In 1923 and 1924 the extension committee of the textile section of 

 the American Home Economics Association under the chairmanship 

 of Tucker (/) made a survey of 4,1.38 families, most of whom lived 

 on farms and in villajies in IG States. 



A similar study reported by Amer}'' (2) in 1925 at the annual meet- 

 ing of the American Ilome Economics Association and later published 

 by Hastie and Gocton (0) was made by the education section of that 

 association. The object of this study was to determine what place 

 clothing construction should have in the school curriculum. Answers 

 to questiormaires were received according to Amery from 2.0S9 city 

 families in New York, Nebraslca, Delaware, and Indiana, and from 

 1,450 rural families in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, New York, 

 and Texas. While this survey shows that little sewing was being 

 done in the city homes considered, Hastie and Gorton (.9, j). 131) 

 state that "92 per cent of the city women consider it miportant that 

 girls should know how to construct garments" and "17 per cent of 

 the city women made more clothing in the home than they did three 

 years ago.' (Jf the women living in rural sections, 95 per cent con- 

 sidered that girls should know how to sew, and 65 per cent of these 

 women were doing more sewing than the}' did three years previously. 



RESULTS OF THE PRESENT STUDY 



In 1925 and 1926 the division of textiles and clothing of the Bureau 

 of Home Economics cooperated with Tucker in a reorganization and 

 redistribution of her questionnaire. A special effort was made to 

 obtain information concerning urban families, since at that time these 

 had not been approached by any other investigator. Reports were 

 received from 32 States and the District of Columbia, a wider area 

 than had been previously covered in a clothing survey. 



Table 1 shows how the general data obtained in this study compare 

 with the results obtained by Tucker and by Hastie and Gorton. All 

 percentages in this table are calculated on the basis of the toted 

 number of reports summarized. The size of the cities from which 

 rej)orts were received in tiie Hastie-Gorton survey are not given, 

 but 2,099 came from Sf)uth Hend, Ind., a city of over 70,000, according 

 to the United States census of 1920. Only 123 reports of the Tucker 

 survey came from cities with over 5,000 population; 1,116 of the 

 women reporting lived in villages and 2,882 lived on farms. A few 

 (lid not give the size of their community. 



The answers which the Bureau of Home Economics received from 

 cities of over 5,000 have been groiiped t<vj;ether. Of these women 

 who reporte(l, 197 lived in towns of 5,000 to 10,000 and 551 lived in 

 cities of 10,000 or over. Of the rural grou)> ^^^^'^ lived on farms and 

 427 lived in towns of under 5,000. The results do not give the 

 total amount of home sewing done, but only list some of the dilferent 

 kinds of garments made at home and the percentage of women 

 making each kind. 



