Passing thought here: with the song dating back to 1812, those were the days when clothing was hand-sewn, even with factory spinning and weaving, so the three shirts would cost more than we think.

Singer wasn't the only inventor of sewing machines, but their arrival made clothing affordable for ordinary people. The effects were one the those Victorian-era changes that, because of photography, we can see. And the sewing machines explains a few things I have known about for years, such as the quality of uniforms in the American Civil War. The Union Army was backed by clothing factories using sewing machines.