Today we're celebrating National Sewing Machine Day!
(read why below in the fun facts)
Fun facts about sewing machines:
- When sewing machines were introduced to the public, "lady demonstrators were hired to disprove suggestions that women were too fluffy and incompetent to work a machine." (source)
- Sewing machines were first mass produced in the 1850s. (source)
- Sewing machines introduced Americans to the concept of installment plans, as the price of the first machines produced was approximately $75. (source)
- "In 1790, that the first workable sewing machine was invented and patented by the British inventor Thomas Saint. Earlier, in 1755, Karl Weisenthal, a German inventor, devised the first sewing macine needle, but did not produce a complete machine. Saint's machine, which was designed to sew leather and canvas, mainly on boots, used only a single thread and formed a chain stitch." (source)
- American Walter Hunt designed a double-thread sewing machine in 1834 but "abandoned the project, convinced that his invention would throw impoverished seamstresses out of work." (source)
- Elias Howe was granted a patent for his sewing machine design on September 10, 1846 (which is why we are celebrating today, 167 years later!). (source)
For more in-depth information on the history of sewing machines, check out these links:
Museum of American Heritage
Machine History
Cambridge History
About.com
Wikipedia (neat animations that show how sewing machines work)
History Today
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