Machine sewing

[fedguy]

How does modern machine stitching differ from those available in period? My searches have returned only a list of different stitches, but not which would be appropriate for machine sewing in the 1860's. Would a Singer machine's technique from, say, the 1920's differ significantly from one at that time?

[Minieball577]

Re: Machine sewing

The following article may be helpful to you. http://inventors.about.com/od/sstart...ng_machine.htm

[Hank Trent]

Re: Machine sewing

How does modern machine stitching differ from those available in period? My searches have returned only a list of different stitches, but not which would be appropriate for machine sewing in the 1860's. Would a Singer machine's technique from, say, the 1920's differ significantly from one at that time?

The two main types of stitches in the 1860s were the lock stitch and the chain stitch. The lock stitch, which seems to be most common on surviving garments and was considered superior, looks the same as a basic modern sewing machine stitch that's a series of straight lines both top and bottom, except that on period garments, it was often set at 15 or more stitches per inch, while on modern garments, it may be much less than that. However, I believe modern machines are easily adjusted for more stitches per inch.

So in other words, if you're using a modern machine to duplicate a period lock stitch, just adjust the stitches per inch and it will produce something that looks like a period line of stitching.

Chain stitches were formed in a few different ways. I can pull out Carter Bays' book to check the diagrams to see how the appearance differed, if you're specifically interested in chain stitching. I don't know anything about modern chain stitch machines, but on period garments, the chain stitching also is set at a higher stitches-per-inch count than one generally sees on modern garments.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[DOC1861]

Re: Machine sewing

My 1858 Buckeye makes a great chain stitch and all 5 attachments that were offered still work like a charm. I like using the blind hemmer, but I digres. The stiching length varies, but the average is about 10 to the inch depending on how I feed with one hand and crank with the other. How I wish I had the tredle cabinet option. As Hank stated all you need to do is adjust the stitch length to the setting that you wish.