Textile Archives - Ten Random Facts

Make clothes ten times faster using sewing machines.

Sewing machines are appliances that use fabric and thread, along with human guidance, to sew textiles together.
The first patent for a sewing machine is evidenced by a diagram, by the inventor Thomas Saint, and Englishman, in 1790, although there is a possibility that Charles Weisenthal, a German had already invented a machine 35 years earlier to go with a machine needle he had patented.
The inventors Isaac Singer and Elias Howe from the United States, significantly improved the early designs of sewing machines in the 1840s and 1850s, and are often credited as the inventors of the appliance.
Sewing machine production began in earnest in the 1850s, with the first saleable machines being those made by Isaac Singer, and they were used commercially.
Sewing machines were first purchased by the general public in the 1860s, often by women, which cut down their sewing time from approximately 14.5 hours by hand, to 1 hour using the machine and by 1863, the Singer Manufacturing Company were selling 20,000 machines a year for home use.

The first feasible electric sewing machine was invented in 1889, originally being powered by a bulky, outer motor, and by the early 1900s, they were a popular item in homes.
Sewing machines usually have the ability to sew various stitches, and will generally include the two main basic stitches, straight stitch and zigzag stitch, and the stitch one chooses will depend on the type of fabric, the purpose of the stitch and the look of the stitch.
Sewing machines are primarily used to create clothes, but can be used to make other textile items like furnishings, toys and books.
Sewing machines normally include a foot pedal; needle; presser foot; bobbin winder; hand wheel; feed dogs and a number of other parts that are visible, as well as numerous parts inside the machine, including the motor.
Sewing machines replaced the significant, time consuming, hand sewing that was required to make clothes and other furnishings before the machine was invented, and this has significantly changed the clothing industry due to the speed in which clothes can be made, as well as the cost in making the garments, and it has also impacted greatly on the home, as women no longer need to make clothes as they can be bought so cheaply from shops, which has helped to give women the freedom to work outside the home.

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Knit one, purl one!

Knitting needles are tools that are used in hand-knitting to make garments or other knitted items, with yarn, and are believed to have their origin in Egypt in the 11th century.
‘Knitting needles’ are also known as ‘knitting pins’ and there are three main types of knitting needles: single-pointed, double-pointed and circular.
Knitting needles are typically long sticks with a blunt spike at one or two ends, and the size of the knitted stitches depends on the size of the diameter of the needle, as well as the thickness of the yarn.
A pair of knitting needles are typically used to create stitches of yarn and hold stitches of yarn together, and using various techniques which include different movements and placement of the needles as well as the yarn, one can create different patterns in the knitted garment.
Knitting needles are generally classified by their diameter, generally ranging from 2 to 25 millimetres in the metric system, although larger and smaller gauge needles are available.

Single pointed knitting needles have one pointed end and one end with a knob to stop stitches coming off, and range between 25-40 cm (10-16 inches) in length and are usually purchased as a pair.
Double-pointed knitting needles have two pointed ends that are often used for circular knitting or for knitting cables, and are usually purchased in sets of 4 to 6 needles and are generally between 13-20 cm (5-8 inches) long.
In 1918, circular knitting needles were patented, and these types of needles have a flexible line joining the two pointed ends, therefore requiring only one piece of equipment, but also allowing knitting ‘in the round’ which is a continuous form of knitting that produces a tube.
The largest knitting needles used for knitting in the world, were 6.5 centimetres in diameter and 3.5 metres in length, used by Julia Hopson from the United Kingdom, who stitched 100 stiches with them in 2006.
Knitting needles are typically made from wood, steel or aluminium, plastic or glass, while some antiques are made of ivory, shell or tusks as well as wood and metal.

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