ing was then $3 per week,
which made labor costs $6000 per week. The 400 machine operators
received $4 per week, making the labor cost $1600 per week. Allowing
$150 as the cost of each machine, the sewing machines more than paid for
themselves in less than 14 weeks, increased the operators pay by $1 a
week, and lowered the retail cost of the item.[75] The greatest savings
of time, which was as much as fifty percent, was in the manufacture of
light goods--such items as shirts, aprons, and calico dresses. The
Commissioner of Patents weighed the monetary effect that this or any
invention had on the economy against the monetary gain received by the
patentee. When he found that the patentee had not been fairly
compensated, he had the authority to grant a seven-year extension to the
patent.[76]

The sewing machine also contributed to the popularity of certain
fashions. Ready-made cloaks for women were a business of a few years'
standing when the sewing machine was adopted for their manufacture in
1853. Machine sewing reduced the cost of constructing the garment by
about eighty percent, thereby decreasing its price and increasing its
popularity. In New York City alone, the value of the "cloak and
mantilla" manufacture in 1860 was $618,400.[77] Crinolines and
hoopskirts were easier to stitch by machine than by hand, and these
items had a spirited period of popularity due to the introduction of the
sewing machine. Braiding, pleating, and tucking adorned many costume
items because they could be produced by machine with ease and rapidity.

In addition to using the sewing machine for the manufacture of shirts,
collars, and related men's furnishings, the machine was also used in the
production of men's and boy's suits and reportedly gave "a vast impetus
to the trade."[78] The Army, however, was not quite convinced of the
sewing machine's practical adaptation to its needs. Although a sewing
machine was purchased for the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot as early
as 1851, they had only six by 1860. On March 31, 1859, General Jesup of
the Philadelphia Depot wrote to a Nechard & Company stating that the
machine sewing had been tried but was not used for clothing, only for
stitching caps and chevrons. In another letter, on the same day, to
"Messers Hebrard & Co., Louisiana Steam Clothing Factory, N. Orleans,"
Jesup states: "Machine sewing has been tried with us, and though it
meets the requirements of a populous and civilized life, it ha