The History of Sewing
Timeline of Major Events
17,500 BC – First Sewing Needles With Eyes
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202 BC-220 AD – Han Dynasty Uses Sewing Needles and Thimbles
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1200 – Buttons Become Popular in Europe
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1730 – Cotton Spun by Machinery
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1730 – Needle Factory Founded in Aachen, Germany
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1755 – Charles Weisenthal takes out patent for mechanical sewing needle
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1790 – Thomas Saint patents early sewing machine
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1812 – Brass Buttons Mass Produced in America
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1812 – James and Patrick Clark Mass Produce Cotton Thread for Sewing
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1830 – Barthelemy Thimonnier invents first practical sewing machine
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1834 – Walter Hunt Invents First Lockstitch Sewing Machine
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1844 – Elias Howe invents modern sewing machine
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1851 – First Singer sewing machine patented
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1880 – First electric sewing machine
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1889 – First practical electric sewing machines sold for mass market
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Sewing has been practiced by humans since 17,500 BC and quite possibly even earlier. Archeologists have found evidence of what is believed to be sewing needles made from bone with an eye for a thread of sorts which is believed to have been used to stitch together animal hides. Most evidence we have of early sewing comes from the Han Dynasty in china, bronze was a common material used to create tools during this era in china, because of this we still have evidence of the bronze sewing needles and the bronze thimbles used while sewing in 202BC- 220 AD. Chinese seamstresses and tailors used bronze thimble rings to protect their fingers from these bronze thin filed needles while they hand stitched clothing. Thimble rings gained popularity and began to travel, with the needles and the silk traders leaving china where it reached the rest of the world.
Bone sewing needles from 17,500BC, and a Bronze Thimble ring from the Han Dynasty
Once the tools and materials used for sewing garments began to spread, the need for other inventions to simplify the process became apparent. As sewing progressed so did garment making, clothing in the 1200's started getting closer fitting to the human form and followed body lines at the seams, to get this form fitted buttons were needed. Buttons attached to garments as well as costly displays of overflowing rich toned fabrics became a sign of the extremly wealthy. Buttons were cast in a multitude of metals including bronze, iron, and gold, these casts allowed for hundreds of buttons to be made from one pour but most were hand finished and had a simple loop to fassen them unlike the four holes we see today.
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In 1730 the first cotton thread spinner spinner is invented making the process of spinning thread for sewing much faster and less labor intensive than before. This system would later go on to at home machines to large scale factories to mass produce thread for sewing use. The at home models were commonly found in the homes of the North American colonies, where the production of fabric was a main product. Spinning was generally seen as a woman's job for in the home use. Women spun yarn with friends at what was called "spinning bees," where the women would get together, talk, have lunch and even compete to see who could spin the best yarn.
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Thomas Saint is credited with the patenting of the first sewing machine in in 1790. He titled the patent "An Entire New Method of Making and Completing Shoes, Boots, Splatterdashes, Clogs, and Other Articles, by Means of Tools and Machines also Invented by Me for that Purpose, and of Certain Compositions of the Nature of Japan or Varnish, which will be very advantageous in many useful Appliances." It is unclear if Saint ever made a prototype of his patent, upon looking at the patent it contains a description that the machine would be able to stich, sew, and quilt fabric. Though the machine did not seem practical for any of these it did include some elements that could be compaired to a modern day machine. It had a horizontal cloth plate or table, an overhanging arm carrying a straight needle, and a continuous supply of thread from a spool. A rotating hand crank on a shaft activated cams that produced all the machine's actions.
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In the year 1812, The Waterbury Button Company began to mass produce brass buttons for American military uniforms as the need for them grew with the number of troops, previously women had been making similar uniforms for the men but a need for a single uniform to mark military members became apparent. 1812 marked the start of a renewed war between England and the United States, brass buttons could be made quickly and inexpensivly which made them perfect for matching thousands of military uniforms.
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In 1834 Walter Hunt created the first lockstitch sewing machine. Hunt’s sewing machine was the first that didn’t attempt to mimic the movements of the human hand He instead made a machine that could create small knots to hold together the fablric. The machine was a curved with an eye-pointed needle that passed the thread through fabric in an arc motion. On the other side of the fabric, a loop was made while a second thread, carried by a shuttle, ran on a track and passed back through the loop. This motion is now what is called the lockstitch.
Sources
In 1889 the Singer sewing machine company produced the first electric sewing machine for at home use. This revolutionized home sewing abilities and changed the way garments could be manufactured at home for a smaller cost than purchasing the garment premade and faster than hand sewing. Although the electric sewing machine has evolved from this point, the premise is still the same using lock stitching with a needle, thread, and bobbin to sew but now there are computers involved as well that make even more stitching options avalible for diffrent fabric types.
https://www.jonessewandvac.com/sewing/the-history-of-sewing/
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https://quatr.us/china/steel-needles-sewing-machines-history-clothing.htm
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https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1200991
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http://www.moah.org/stitches/inventors.html
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​https://www.singermachines.co.uk/faq/singer-sewing-machine-company-history.html
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