My husband was visiting his sister and husband in their ritzy house in San Diego. There was some loose wood staple in the basement and the b-i-l (aged 42) couldn’t pry it out by hand. My husband (age 40, who has many tools at home) asked if he had tools so the b-i-l checked his “tool box”: a child’s kit with a mini-flashlight, two small screwdrivers and mini-tape measure. They had to go the the neighbor’s house to borrow a pair of pliers.
I used to work for a phone-in mail order company that sold hats. Our customers were mostly retirees or older folks. If people didn’t know their hat sizes, I’d tell them to get a cloth tape measure to measure their heads and I’d convert the inches to a hat size. I think only once in three years I spoke with a customer who did not own a cloth tape measure, so they had to use a string. That was twenty years ago.
Today I am 38, have a cloth tape measure in my house as well as a sewing machine. I’m no expert dressmaker, but I make repairs to clothes as needed. I don’t know a single woman my age or younger who owns a sewing machine or cloth tape measure. Perhaps a few may have a spool of thread and some needles, but that’s it.
Sewing and sewing machines is a great example, people just quit doing them.
See the bottom photo in post 130.
When I was a young boy I had a fascination with not only traditional electrical and mechanical tinkering like boys [used to] do, but I loved doing more “girly” things like decorating and crafts. I was taught how to use the sewing machine, had my cousin’s weaving loom on loan for a summer, and used to love macreme and origami... which the origami was an offshoot of being mastering the art of paper airplane making.
I don’t have a sewing machine, but do have a fancy tin that had chocolates in it at one point and it has all my sewing supplies in it. I was actually looking at an old treadle sewing machine nearby on craigslist... it would fit in at the homestead... I just dunno when I would ever use it because I am constantly dealing with plumbing, electrical, fencing, cutting/hauling wood for heat... and tending animals.
I really wish I had help sometimes. The farm is a lot of work alone.
Maybe I should put planning, designing and building a machine for faster and easier textile work on our list of projects. That is, for spinning, and maybe another one for making fabric.