Cooperative Extension at LSU

4-H Gave Gina First Sewing Machine

Gina E. Eubanks

Gina E. Eubanks: My first sewing machine that I owned came through 4-H. I think it was a project or something they had with Sears. Sears or Singer, one of them, I can't remember. 4-H purchased . . . either the county office or the parish office purchased the sewing machine, and you could get the sewing machine, you'd have to sign papers and everything like that and then you'd pay them back. You'd pay the foundation back. And I remember my mom, we paid seven dollars a week . . . or seven dollars a month, one of them, until we paid it back. I still have that sewing machine.

Wyatt Winnie: You still have that sewing machine?

Eubanks: Oh it's been long.

Winnie: Did you sew and make earnings from that sewing machine?

Eubanks: Paid for all of my senior stuff by sewing for people.

Winnie: What kinds of things would you sew for people?

Eubanks: Oh, everything. Made mostly ladies clothes. I didn't get too much into men's clothes. Didn't get too much into that. I actually had a best friend and her mother that I sewed a lot for and everything, then I'd sewed for other people, but I sewed for them all the way through high school until probably my freshman year in college. And then at that point in time, I kind of, I do special things for people. You know, evening dresses or a suit or anything like that. All the way through high school I sewed on a regular basis. I didn't like the hand stitching. My mother used to do that. My mother would do the hand work. I guess you'd call us a team.