Post by Ash Reynolds
(Seamstress images provided by BYTAVI)
It’s hard to imagine a world without the sheer volume of clothing we have now. Many of us are accustomed to having a large variety of clothing options available to us; seemingly endless shapes, styles and colors. Before the invention of the sewing machine however, all of our clothing was made completely by hand.
The concept of a sewing machine first appeared in 1790, when Thomas Saint filed a patent for a machine to sew leather. Although Thomas would actually never build his machine, French tailor Barthelemy Thimonnier would build his own in 1830. The first working sewing machine used a hooked needle and one thread to create a chain stitch. The simple beginnings of these machines would soon unravel into an entire expanding industry.
Using this newfound technology, Thimonnier opened the very first sewing machine powered manufacturing company to create uniforms for the French Army. However, when neighboring French tailors caught wind of his invention they felt as though their livelihoods were being threatened. Around 150 tailors actually confronted him at his factory and destroyed several machines in the process, in what some call “The Sewing Machine Riot.”
In America, the sewing machines’ history is riddled with arguments over patents and stolen designs. However, from all this competition many improvements to the sewing machine were made, including the foot control pedal, which is still seen on many sewing machines today.
While modern sewing machines may look quite a bit different, the general shape has stayed the same. More importantly, these machines also are still operated by people. The French tailors who attacked Thimonnier’s plant weren’t exactly wrong: in most industries, technological advancement can move too quickly and take the jobs of the humans originally creating the product.
That’s one key advantage of both the modern and original sewing machine (and one of our favorite things about the clothing industry!): there’s still a person controlling it. In a world where AI seems to be encroaching on creatives in every industry, the human touch is still involved with the sewing machine. Even embroidery machines and sergers, tools that speed up their respective processes exponentially, still require a human’s idea and guidance.
Since Thimonnier’s first sewing machine nearly 200 years ago, the textile industry has come a long way. New technologies, trends and styles have transformed the industry greatly. And yet, the heart of the industry is still present. A person, sitting at a sewing machine, creating.
SOURCES:
https://www.sewbroidery.com/a-brief-history-of-the-sewing-machine/