I was chatting with Etienne Kern, telling him that I had appreciated his book Les Envoles, the story of Franz Reichelt can't pass unobserved, when I added that my mother is a tailor as well. She still works.
Etienne, so, proposed me the reading of A La Machine
written by Yamina Benahmed Daho. I asked for the e-mail of the author and later I received a copy of the book thanks to Gallimard.
It was revealing: no, I didn't know, and neither my mother, that the inventor of the sewing machine was Barthélemy Barthélemy photo credit Britannica
Thimonnier, a french, although, after all it is not so surprising considering the good reputation of France in terms of fashion.
Just...You musn't imagine, reading this book long 160 pages, fireworks or big successes. Barthélemy hasn't been lucky in his meetings and so lived an existence pretty tribulated, and poor, "cheated" by people more sly than him. Yes: also if invented the sewing machine.
Sometimes incidents are real revelations.
Barthélemy in fact lost some portion of fingers one day. This boy studied in a seminary and was a person of culture: later, passionate of the field, became a tailor, but... Imagine...... He would have met difficulties with clients, if they would have noticed his hands, and so the creation of a machine in grade of putting together various part of tissues, became to him crucial.
The author writes: "I imagine une machine imitant les points effectués par la main qui brode. Une machine facilitant l’assemblage des pièces de tissu pour les costumes qu’il fabrique. Une machine pour les tailleurs comme lui mais également pour les couturières."
The tailor imagined a machine in grade of imitating the points added by tailors, and that would have facilitated the assembly of pieces of tissue: a machine for everyone, big names and modest tailors.
The first elaboration was heavy: it was 1829 and Barthélemy was 36 years.
Auguste Ferrand was a guy he will meet along her way, asking for helo. Barthelemy knew that invented something of important, a revolution during a cultural revolution the one brought by progress, but he had also to protect what he had created.
Anyway, they opened a factory where they had to create pants for soldiers with these first examples of sewing machines: people employed were poor ones, or people with disabilities. Paris was not happy of what it was going on, and tailors of big and little brands were terrified by the arrival of a sewing machine in grade to modify, too drastically their works.
What would become their work if a sewing machine will do that?
The factory was burned down.
Big problems, Barthelemy will be in grade to validate a second invention in 1845 and he will meet again a new man Jean- Marie Magnin, an attorney or a son of some attorney: a man with big ideas: the expansion of the invention in UK and USA.
And it was a success. In London people had the intention of producing these new sewing machine. In USA, Singer will be the first one.
Other troubles along the way for Barthelemy and his family, the real inventor of the sewing machine died poor, and just the wife received a soum of money later, when old and sick.
In 1855 anyway was clear to everyone because was official that Barthélemy was the inventor of the sewing machine.
A museum is dedicated to Barthélemy Thimonnier and I recommend to all of you the reading of this book.
Highly recommended!
Anna Maria Polidori
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