Sharon, here is a response from the director of the Amana Heritage Museum regarding the sewing machine question:
Now that's a real good question....
And the answer to a real good question usually involves some speculation
and equivocation.
The village tailor as far as I know made only men's clothing. He
definitely used machines. Women generally did sewing for the family at
home, but there were also communal sewing rooms where other sewing was
done--like for example funeral clothing and for Tagloehner.
In our oral histories, the women talk about using sewing machines both at
home and in the sewing rooms. But that's late--in the 1920s. I really
don't have any idea how early sewing machines were introduced. I
understand they were fairly common in American homes by the 1880s, so
it's possible Amana had sewing machines already in the 19th century. We
do have Amana sewing machines in our museum collection. One is on display
in the rug weaving exhibit in the schoolhouse. I'll do a little more
research on those we have to see if we can come with any dates.
So the simple answer to the question "Did women in communal Amana have
sewing machines in their homes?"
"Yes."
Lanny
