Origins: The sewing room

Subject: Origins: The sewing room
From: GUEST,Julia
Date: 10 May 04 - 09:37 PM

Hello all- my mother used to sing this song which she heard from HER mother circa 1900 or so. I sang it to MY kids when they were little
It begins

The sewing room is swept today
The old machine is humming
Tomorrow is the first of May
And Miss Marigh (sp?) is coming

And then for 'most two weeks she'll be
Beside the window sitting
And we must stay at home that she
Might have us for a fitting

Anyone know where it came from?

Subject: RE: Origins: The sewing room
From: GUEST,julia
Date: 11 May 04 - 08:30 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Origins: The sewing room
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 May 04 - 09:50 PM

Hi, Julia - you've certainly brought up a couple of interesting songs, this one and One Evening Into a Theater. I didn't find either at the Lester Levy Sheet Mudic Collection, but I'm sure you'll find interesting results if you search for sewing.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Origins: The sewing room
From: GUEST,julia
Date: 11 May 04 - 10:12 PM

Thanks so much Joe- I have been wondering about these songs for a long time. Some people might say that they're not "folk music" but I learned them from my mom who learned them from HERS,and nobdy seems to know where they came from so.... sounds like folk to me!
cheers- julia

Subject: ADD: The Sewing Room
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Apr 12 - 02:20 PM

My mother recited the following poem to us every year. She learned it as school in the 1930s:


THE SEWING ROOM

The sewing room was swept today.
The old machine is humming.
Tomorrow is the first of May,
And Miss Mariah's coming.

When Miss Mariah once begins,
She's twice as fast as Jenny.
She fills her mouth right full of pins
And doesn't swallow any.

She has the biggest pair of shears,
And when she goes to fit my collar,
I'm so afraid she'll clip my ears,
It almost makes me holler.

Nell's to have a homespun grey,
And Mary Ann a shelley.
Lizzie's to have a new pique,
And there's a silk for Allie.

And Jane, the sweetest dimity
With little lace of clover.
But I am the youngest, I, you see,
just get their things made over.

Subject: RE: Origins: The sewing room
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 30 Apr 12 - 08:01 PM

Guest, thank you very much. What memories those words bring back!

That word 'shelley' was probably challis (rhymes with Allie), 'A soft, lightweight, usually printed fabric made of wool, cotton, or rayon.'