@futurebird My maternal grandmother worked in a factory that wove cotton cloth. That was in Scotland, before she came to the US. Not sure how long, but she talked about it so obviously long enough to leave an impression.
Paternal grandfather learned to be a shoemaker in Sweden. When he came to the US he had difficulty finding work that wasn't mass production; he wanted to work as he'd learned, making a pair of shoes beginning to end. Eventually he found Spalding and made baseball shoes.