In 1910, Ida Holdgreve answered a small newspaper advertisement in Dayton, Ohio, looking for someone to do “plain sewing”. A dressmaker by trade, the 29-year-old had no idea the job would place her inside the newly established Wright brothers’ aircraft factory. The advertisement was reportedly meant to ask for “plane sewing”; work on the fabric coverings of aircraft being built by Orville and Wilbur Wright. Holdgreve learned to cut, stitch and stretch fabric over wooden frames, helping produce wings, rudders and other parts of the early flying machines. The work required careful hands, patience and precision, as even small errors in the fabric could affect the shape and performance of the aircraft in flight. She worked alongside other employees as aviation moved from experimental machines toward a more organised industry. Her work later took her into wartime aircraft production, where she supervised other women sewing heavy canvas for military planes. Yet she would not fly herself until she was 88.
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