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A sewing table or work table is a table or desk used for sewing. Generally it has large amounts of space and a full set of sewing tools. Nearby there will be a chair and a waste bin. A common attachment is a dropleaf to give expanded space. Other attachments can be a cloth bag for storing sewing materials, drawers, or shelves. [1]
The sewing table originated in England around 1770 and was adopted in post-Revolutionary War America. Prior to the use of the sewing table, women kept needlework in a basket or bag. It was designed to provide a surface and storage for a gentlewoman’s needlework or other leisure actives, including basket-weaving, crochet, macramé and painting as it was customary for women to gather and take up work around the table. The majority of tables created in the U.S. during this time were of Sheraton or Empire style and constructed of mahogany. [2] [3]
In the mid-1800s, sewing machines were developed and the sewing table was altered to accommodate a machine. [3] The Singer cabinet works was established in 1868 as a contractor constructing the Singer Company’s sewing tables in South Bend, Indiana. The plant was designed initially for sewing table distribution in the Western United States. In 1891, the plant expanded covering 60 acres and 20 acres of lumber yards with a factory railroad. The new plant handled all Singer operations with tables being shipped to the Eastern U.S. as well as Europe, South America, and Asia. [4]
Embroidery is the art of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to stitch thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen on hats, clothing, blankets, and handbags. Embroidery is available in a wide variety of thread or yarn colour. It is often used to personalize gifts or clothing items.
Quilting is the process of joining a minimum of three layers of fabric together either through stitching manually using a needle and thread, or mechanically with a sewing machine or specialised longarm quilting system. An array of stitches is passed through all layers of the fabric to create a three-dimensional padded surface. The three layers are typically referred to as the top fabric or quilt top, batting or insulating material, and the backing.
Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then the Singer Company in 1963. It is based in La Vergne, Tennessee, near Nashville. Its first large factory for mass production was built in 1863 in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies. Since the invention of the first sewing machine, generally considered to have been the work of Englishman Thomas Saint in 1790, the sewing machine has greatly improved the efficiency and productivity of the clothing industry.
Appliqué is ornamental needlework in which pieces or patches of fabric in different shapes and patterns are sewn or stuck onto a larger piece to form a picture or pattern. It is commonly used as decoration, especially on garments. The technique is accomplished either by hand stitching or machine. Appliqué is commonly practised with textiles, but the term may be applied to similar techniques used on different materials. In the context of ceramics, for example, an appliqué is a separate piece of clay added to the primary work, generally for the purpose of decoration.
Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a sewing needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. Before the invention of spinning yarn or weaving fabric, archaeologists believe Stone Age people across Europe and Asia sewed fur and leather clothing using bone, antler or ivory sewing-needles and "thread" made of various animal body parts including sinew, catgut, and veins.
Isaac Merritt Singer was an American inventor, actor, and businessman. He made important improvements in the design of the sewing machine and was the founder of what became one of the first American multi-national businesses, the Singer Sewing Machine Company.
New Mexico State University is a public land-grant research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution of higher education, and the state's first land-grant institution in New Mexico. NMSU has campuses in Alamogordo, Doña Ana County, and Grants, as well as research centers and programs in all 33 counties in the state.
A pincushion is a small, stuffed cushion, typically 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) across, which is used in sewing to store pins or needles with their heads protruding to take hold of them easily, collect them, and keep them organized.
Fiber art refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labor on the part of the artist as part of the works' significance, and prioritizes aesthetic value over utility.
Darning is a sewing technique for repairing holes or worn areas in fabric or knitting using needle and thread alone. It is often done by hand, but using a sewing machine is also possible. Hand darning employs the darning stitch, a simple running stitch in which the thread is "woven" in rows along the grain of the fabric, with the stitcher reversing direction at the end of each row, and then filling in the framework thus created, as if weaving. Darning is a traditional method for repairing fabric damage or holes that do not run along a seam, and where patching is impractical or would create discomfort for the wearer, such as on the heel of a sock.
The Merrow Sewing Machine Company, best known for inventing the overlock sewing machine, is a manufacturer of sewing machines. After the explosion of his gunpowder mill in 1837, in 1838 J.M. Merrow built a knitting mill on the same site. The company developed crocheting machines for its own use and by 1887 evolved to design, build and market sewing machines exclusively. During its early decades it was organized as a partnership under various names: established in 1838 as Joseph M. Merrow & Sons by J. Makens Merrow, then Pitkin, Merrow, & Co., renamed Merrow Manufacturing Co. in 1857, then Merrow and Millard in 1863, J.B. Merrow and Sons in 1870, and incorporated as The Merrow Manufacturing Company in 1893. Originally all of its manufacturing was done at facilities in Merrow, Connecticut, and then in Hartford, Connecticut, after 1894. The company is currently based in Fall River, Massachusetts.
A buttonhole is a reinforced hole in fabric that a button can pass through, allowing one piece of fabric to be secured to another. The raw edges of a buttonhole are usually finished with stitching. This may be done either by hand or by a sewing machine. Some forms of button, such as a frog, use a loop of cloth or rope instead of a buttonhole.
Mary Brooks Picken was an American author of 96 books on needlework, sewing, and textile arts. Her Fashion Dictionary was published by Funk and Wagnalls in 1957.
Beulah Louise Henry was an American inventor whose extensive contributions to consumer products and manufacturing technology solidified her legacy in the field. Born in Raleigh, North Carolina,
and later based in New York City, Henry was a pioneering figure who held 49 patents and developed over 110 inventions, significantly advancing technology while breaking gender barriers in her field.
PFAFF is a German manufacturer of sewing machines and is now owned by the SGSB Co. Ltd.
In sewing and dressmaking, a ruffle, frill, or furbelow is a strip of fabric, lace or ribbon tightly gathered or pleated on one edge and applied to a garment, bedding, or other textile as a form of trimming.
The Simplicity Pattern Company is a manufacturer of sewing pattern guides, under the "Simplicity Pattern", "It's So Easy" and "New Look" brands. The company was founded in 1927 in New York City. During the Great Depression, Simplicity allowed home seamstresses to create fashionable clothing in a reliable manner. The patterns are manufactured in the US but are distributed and sold in Canada, England, and Australia, in some markets by Burda and in Mexico and South Africa by third-party distributors. The company licenses its name to the manufacture of non-textile materials such as sewing machines, doll house kits, and sewing supplies. Simplicity is now owned by Design Group Americas, Inc, a subsidiary of the British company IG Design Group plc.
The White Sewing Machine was the first sewing machine from the White Sewing Machine Company. It used a vibrating shuttle bobbin driver design. For that reason, and to differentiate it from the later White Family Rotary that used a rotary hook design instead, it came to be known as the "White Vibrating Shuttle" or "White VS". In 1879 it cost USD50 to US$125 depending on which table or cabinet it was to be mounted in. The White VS continued in production, with improvements, until the early 1900s.
The Singer Featherweight is a model series of lockstitch domestic sewing machines produced by the Singer Manufacturing Company from 1933 to 1968, significant among sewing machines for their continuing popularity, active use by quilters and high collector's value.