Sewing Machines

Shamefully I have three, and don’t use any of them. They are tucked away in Ireland and were too heavy to bring out to Portugal, but in hindsight, I wish I had at least one of them here.

A stitch or two in time

My mother’s machine was an inheritance and was a staple in any dressmaking projects she took on. It’s one of those heavy old black and gold affairs on a wooden base and was manually operated. It just stitched forward and back, and you lengthened or shortened the stitch by how fast you pushed the fabric through. You had to be clever to get a consistent stitch length – too close together made the fabric bunch up, too long and you would get gaps you could push a finger – or a hand – through at the seam. For the life of me, I can’t remember the manufacturer's name, but there is a whole list of them, and I have a suspicion it is American, and maybe worth a bit nowadays.

Singer Sewing Machine

I suppose the most famous of all sewing machines was the Singer, the Rolls Royce of machines in its heyday. The company was originally called the I. M. Singer & Co., but was renamed the Singer Corporation in 1865, then became the Singer Manufacturing Company, then the Singer Company in 1963, and was based in La Vergne, Tennessee, near Nashville. Its first large factory for mass production was built in 1863 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. An old Singer machine would be classed as an antique today, and one in good working condition would probably be worth several thousand euros.

Who invented it first?

Who invented the sewing machine is a frequently asked question for a good reason. The history of the sewing machine is littered with accusations, failed attempts and some serious scandal. From narrowly escaping death to patent lawsuits, it’s an interesting story that demonstrates the seemingly humble sewing machine ruffled more than a few feathers in its infancy.

The history of the sewing machine wouldn’t exist without the artistry of hand sewing. People started sewing by hand some 20,000 years ago when the first needles were made from bones or animal horns and the thread was made from animal sinew. Our natural progression was to want to improve sewing techniques and make it less laborious. Then came the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, when the need to decrease manual sewing in factories became important.

The First Patent

In 1755, a German named Charles Weisenthal was issued a British patent for a ‘needle that is designed for a machine’, but there were no details in Weisenthal’s patent of any mechanical machine, but it shows there was a need for such an invention.

The First Detailed Design

The history of the sewing machine and who invented it essentially starts in 1790, when Englishman Thomas Saint designed the first sewing machine of its kind. The patent described a machine ‘powered with a hand crank to be used for leather and canvas’. It’s not known if Saint built a prototype, but in 1874, William Newton Wilson found the patent drawings, and they were so detailed, he built a replica, proving that it did work.

All original sewing machines had a needle that moved from side to side, until 1830, when Barthelemy Thimonnier, a French tailor, invented a sewing machine that used a hooked needle and one thread, creating a chain stitch. He forged ahead with a factory with 80 machines, intending to make uniforms for the French Army, but the twist to this story is that other French tailors didn’t take kindly to this invention and burned his factory to the ground, and he was lucky to avoid death.

There’s more to the story of the sewing machine, that I don’t have room for, but Isaac Merritt Singer is still one of the most well-known sewing machine manufacturers and built an empire that is still going today. His iconic Singer sewing machines are beautifully ornate and somewhat legendary. He developed the first version of our modern-day sewing machine, with a foot pedal and an up-and-down needle.

Marilyn writes regularly for The Portugal News, and has lived in the Algarve for some years. A dog-lover, she has lived in Ireland, UK, Bermuda and the Isle of Man. 

Marilyn Sheridan