EARLY EFFORTS (SLIDE 2)

People have been sewing for a long time. They began using bone needles with eyes to
stitch animal skins together at least 2,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age;
started making needles from iron about 4,000 years ago, at the very beginning of
the Iron Age; and first used thimbles in China about 2,000 years ago, during the
Han dynasty. But the sewing machine itself is a fairly recent invention, less than
200 years old. For thousands of years, people – mostly women – were forced to sew
slowly and laboriously by hand. (Below: Ancient sewing needles.)
The first attempts to make sewing machines failed, largely because inventors (all
of whom were men) tried to make machines that could mimic the motions of hand
sewers. Early attempts at sewing machines used only strand of thread and needles
with eyes on the blunt ends, which were pushed completely through the cloth,
grasped by a pincer or clamp on the other side, and then pushed back through again.
Such motions proved too complex for 18th- and early-19th-century technology.

SLIDE 3
first arising in the Paleolithic era!
it is one of the oldest textiles arts and it started in the caves. Before the more
advanced spinning or weaving came about, archaeologists believe that our Stone Age
ancestors across Asia and Europe sewed fur and skin clothing using bone, antler and
Ivory needles, using ‘thread’ made from various animal body parts such as sinew,
catgut and veins (thankfully that’s not the case anymore…).
Unsurprisingly, for thousands of years, sewing was always done by hand until the
invention of the sewing machine in the 19th century and the rise of technology
which led to mass production and export of sewn objects. Hand sewing is still
practised around the world today and is associated with high quality tailoring,
couture fashion and custom dress making (as well as being used as a means of
creative expression like us!).

Origin

Sewing has been a necessity in cultures and societies for millions of years. It was
used to stitch together animal hides for clothing, warmth and shelter. A great
example of this is looking at Inuits, who would use sinew from caribou and those
American Plains and Canadian Prairies used sophisticated sewing methods to assemble
tipi shelters. Moving around the world, sewing was combined with the weaving of
plant leaves in Africa to create baskets; thin strips of palm leaf would be used as
thread to stitch wider strips of palm leaf to make the coil.
Moving North East from Africa, the weaving of cloth from natural fibres was
originated around 4000 BC and even earlier, during the Neolithic Age was when the
sewing of cloth accompanied this development.

Bone sewing- Then maybe around 40,000 BC, still in Central Asia, somebody had the
idea to make a hole in the end of the awl and thread the first needle.
This made sewing a lot faster and easier, and soon the new idea spread to other
cold places like northern Europe and North America.
People made these early needles out of bone and ivory, like awls. People were also
starting to use spindles and spindle whorls to make thread – these were the first
wheels and axles. Nobody knows whether they were weaving clothing yet, but they
were weaving mats and baskets.

Middle Ages

During this time, Europeans who could afford it, would employ seamstresses and
tailors. Sewing was mainly a woman’s occupation and all sewing before the 19th
century tended to be practical. Clothing was expensive so women had the important
job of extending the longevity of items of clothing. Sewing was used for mending,
reusing (such as making quilts etc.). Making clothes from scratch was long and
tedious (weaving pattern making, cutting, alterations..) which meant that women
were able to barter their expertise in particular skill with one another.
Decorative needlework such as embroidery was a highly valued skill at the time and
from the Middle Ages up until the 17th century, sewing tools such as needles, pins
and pincushions were included in the trousseaus of many European brides. Decirative
embroidery was valued in countries and cultures all over the world - from Ireland
to China, Morocco to Western Asia, cultures independent from each other found
themselves with the same styles of stitching - pretty awesome!

SLIDE 4 & 5
the Industrial Revolution shifted the production of textiles from the household to
the mills. The first sewing machine was patented in 1790 by Thomas Saint and but
the early 1840s, other early sewing machines began to appear and by the 1850s,
Isaac Singer developed the first sewing machine that not only surpassed the
productivity of a seamstress or tailor, but could also be used at home. 
Following this, textile sweatshops full of underpaid sewing machine operators grew
into entire business districts in large cities, including London which further
supported the industry. Mainly full of women working up to 14 hour days to earn
enough to support themselves, this was a super tough time for working women.
Tailors became associated with higher-end clothing and tailor shops popped up
around Savile Row and coming into the 20th century and beyond, Savile’s tailor
businesses are still flourishing. 

SLIDE 6
French tailor Barthelemy Thimonnier who invented the first functioning sewing
machine in 1830 for use in his garment factory, had an original machine that used
only one thread and a hooked needle for a chain stitch. His factory was burnt down
and he was nearly killed by an angry mob of French tailors who were afraid his
machines would leave them unemployed. A few years later in America, Walter Hunt
shared the same fears, and abandoned the work to patent his own version of a
straight-seam sewing machine. The fears were unfounded, as industrial sewing
machines created multiple job opportunities worldwide.
Machines with different functions are operated to complete clothing items in a
production line. Marketing to individuals didn't begin until 1889, allowing for
women to have the means to create clothing for their family without the labor-
intensive hand stitching. The domestic sewing machine used in the home is
manufactured to perform many tasks from sewing straight or zigzag stitches and the
creation of buttonholes, as well as stitching buttons on to the piece of clothing.

SLIDE 7
Once the sewing machine was mass-produced, it was time to improve the type of
sewing people could do. Of course, there are hoards of ways to cross-stitch, hem,
stitch buttons, and sew bags with hand sewing. But, as the sewing machine helped
cut down the time it took to make clothes, it was time for outfits to get new forms
of stitching.
in the 20th century, sewing machines became more affordable to the working class so
the demand for sewing patterns grew. An American tailor and manufacturer called
Ebenezer Butterick created paper patterns that could be traced and used by home
sewers. These became wildly popular and off the back of the demand, several pattern
companies soon established themselves. As some of you might remember, women’s
magazines also carried sewing patterns for much of the 20th century but declined
when ready-made clothing became a necessity when more women joined the paid
workforce, leaving them with less time to sew.
Today, the low price of ready-made clothing in high street shops and online, means
that home sewing is largely confined to hobbyists in the Western world with the
exception of cottage industries in custom dressmaking and upholstery!