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.