Sewing

Sewing is the action of stitching cloth or other materials together with a needle and thread. The primary product of sewing is clothing and household furnishings such as curtains, bedding and upholstered furniture. Most modern sewing is done with specially designed sewing machines, the development of which in the 19th century made sewing exponentially faster and easier.http://www.ismacs.net/sewing_machine_history.html Today people sew for a number of reasons, to get precise fit, to get exactly the style they want, to save money and for enjoyment.

Sewing includes using a pattern to cut out the material in the proper shapes. Patterns can be adjusted so the sewer can get a custom fit. Some sewers us a dress form. A dress form is an adjustable dummy that can be set to the size of a person‘s figure. Pattern pieces can then be made directly on them or compared to them.http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dress+form

Sewing by hand has been around for thousands of years. Bone needles with eyes were used to sew skins and furs together. Thimbles has been escavated by Chinese archaeologists from the Han Dynasty.

It was in 1790, that Thomas Saint invented a sewing machine. This machine was designed for sewing leather and canvas and used only a chain stitch. Barthelemy Thimonnier invented the first sewing machine used on cloth. These were used to sew uniforms for the French army. As the early machines could only sew short, straight seams so many people still preferred hand sewing. In 1851, Issac Singer patented a sewing machine with a rigid arm, cloth support, vertical presser foot, vertical needle-holding bar and a foot treadle. This sewing machine became the first well accepted machine.http://www.moah.org/exhibits/virtual/sewing.html

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