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The Rise of the Sewing Machine

We take for granted these days that our clothes and items will be machine-sewn and generally well-constructed. You might be surprised, however, at how long that has been true. The first mention we find of the invention of the sewing machine reported in Virginia comes by way of the Alexandria Gazette, October 15, 1845:

An ingenious piece of mechanism has lately been made known to the public in France. It is a sewing machine, and calculated to revolutionize completely the art of sewing. It will perform two hundred stitches to the minute, enlarge or contract tho stitches by the simple turn of a screw, lead the needle along all the sinuosities of the stuff to be sewed, without the least danger of tear, whatever may be the texture of the stuff and do every part of the sewing of a coat, button holes excepted.

The Staunton Spectator, published on October 30 that same year, includes the final line omitted from Alexandria's publication: "The inventor is Mr. B. Thimounier, tailor at Amplepluis, France." As we saw in the oleomargarine story, reporters were not great at spelling names correctly. The actual inventor is Barthélemy Thimonnier. Working with Auguste Ferrand, a mining engineer, they received a patent July 17, 1830. While this is quite early, even this was not the first sewing machine of its type to be patented; Thimonnier happened to be the person who reinvented it and succeeded in production. Like many of our stories of inventors, he did not enjoy a great deal of success. Even later redesigns (including  the 1845 machine discussed here) did not lead to any great success.

In America, it seems several individuals all began making sewing machines around the same time. Progress was rapid, with an article in the New Era for 21 February 1846 claiming a machine can "set 400 stitches a minute with perfect ease." I have not found a good comparison for human stitches per minute, but it's significantly slower - a simple pillow might take two hours by hand for neat and accurate hand sewing, compared to perhaps twenty minutes on a machine. [1] A more detailed account of this miraculous progress in sewing is described in Southern Planter, July 1, 1846: 

The greatest novelty to us was a sewing machine exhibited by Mr. Home, of Bennington, Vermont, which executed in the most perfect and beautiful manner about a thousand stitches a minute; we hope for the sake of humanity that it will not be long before this machine will be left alone to sing the “song of the shirt.” The machine is small, and compact, and though of course somewhat complicated by no means unmanageable in the hands of a common operative. We were informed that it was sold for one hundred dollars. The proprietor was kind enough to furnish us with a specimen of its work, which consists of rows of stiching [sic] both straight and curved: we brought it home for the inspection of our lady friends. They pronounce the work perfect. 

The thousand stitches may be a bit of an exaggeration, but there's no question the sewing machine was an amazing labor-saving invention. In 1851, a retailer in Richmond, Williams & Brother, began advertising bags, made with the "newly invented sewing machine."

1851 bag advertisement from Williams & Brother

Other ads referenced selling the "patent right for the State, and also private rights, on accommodating terms." So this leads to one tangential note: the patent wars for the multiple sewing machine companies were brutal. A Lynchburg Daily Virginian ad for Singer proclaimed it was the only machine a person could use without fear of being sued for patent infringement in 1854. A minor player in the sewing machine wars sparked the idea for the Sewing Machine Combination, which allowed the major companies to pool nine patents and share royalties for twenty years. 

Although sewing machines were vastly useful, they were quite expensive. The online inflation calculator only goes back to 1913, but a sale paper from that year quotes a $30 machine with attachments (around $900 today) was on sale for $15.98 (a steal at $500 and change). 

Wheeling Intelligencer, 8 January 1913


 If you'd like to do a deeper dive into the history of sewing machines, check out The Invention of the Sewing Machine on Project Gutenburg for a full overview of the evolution of the sewing machine, packed with informative images and text. Don't forget to stop by the International Sewing Machine Collectors Society for more images and history, too! 

In my tiny bit of spare time, I sew on a Kenmore Model 1641 - the same model I watched my mother use through my childhood. We have come to an accord after nearly a year of working and oiling and fiddling, so I have begun some sewing projects. You can find my first pattern that I am confident in, a customizable lined drawstring bag, open for commissions.

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