Bringing The World of Sewing to Life
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An illustration of the lockstitch sewing machine, invented in 1844 by Elias Howe (1819-1867) in Cambridge, USA. The machine made much stronger fabrics than previously as the stitches did not unravel if the thread broke. The secret was the lockstitch where two threads were put into the cloth, one from below and one from above. The machine was far quicker than a person sewing by hand – 640 stitches per minute compared to the average of 23 by hand. The machine was successfully copied by such manufacturers as I. M. Singer.From Frank Puterbaugh Bachman's 1918 book Great Inventors and their Inventions, American Book Co., New York, USA.