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 A...
Forgotten history fished from the river of forgetfulness