Although the date of the invention of the sewing machine is debated because the first devices seem to date back to 1755, that of
August 12 exactly 170 years ago
is an important anniversary: it corresponds to the
filing of the patent
of a new (for the time but revolutionary still today) sewing system with straight needles that move up and down automatically on the fabric. Before that it was sewn with prototypes of machines that worked 'chain' stitches and with double needles. The turning point of 1851 led to a flowering of other and new increasingly refined systems to make every type of point in a sector that has never stopped and which today produces machines equipped with 'brains' and computer systems capable of (almost) all alone.
Therefore: the first, official, sewing machine equipped with this automatic system seems to have been conceived by the Englishman John Fisher but certainly patented that 12 August 1851 and built by the
pioneer of the sector, the American Isaac Merritt Singer
, founder of the well-known brand that still bears his name today. The mechanism was developed with an arm parallel to the work surface with vertical sliding needles as it still uses today. A very successful intuition that led to the entrepreneur with a passion for mechanics great notoriety so much so that several historic buildings in the world bear his name, from the Russian Singer Building in St. Petersburg to
the Singer building in Rome at the corner with Via del Corso,
(it was the administrative headquarters of the company, today it is a luxury hotel).
Who has never sewed or seen a Singer in their grandmother's house? Or a Pfaff, put into production a few years later by the German Michael Pfaff with another important intuition: the automatic sliding of the fabric. From 1890 onwards the manufacturers of sewing machines increased all over the world, there is no shortage of Italian brands such as Necchi and Salmoiraghi, and the systems have undergone other original improvements for sewing and embroidering in the name of an indispensable tool for the manufacturing sector but which occupies there are also many market niches: from fashion to tailoring, shirts, wedding dresses, stage costumes, sportswear and home sewing.
It is the do-it-yourself niche that has grown dramatically in recent years e
machines have also been rediscovered by Generation Z who are passionate about sewing by
sharing experiences and outfits on social media. Internet is the realm of ideas but also the means to be able to make (very complicated) paper patterns. The rest are real
electronic
and computer
'brains'
that today's sewing machines are equipped with.
Sewing is not the stuff of matusa, - the guys of Gen Z on Youtube specify while exchanging comments with the influencers of the sector renowned all over the world. While the sewing machine, as we know it today, turns 170, Micarah Tewers, a young creative seamstress and influencer with 1.71 million followers around the world, shows all the steps to
create clothes identical to those of the designer
, very expensive and from Red Carpet (she made the same clothes that Ariana Grande wore at the Grammys and on her wedding day, spending only 40 dollars) and using waste materials, remnants and everything that is in the armed house of her Singer electronics. The little girls love her and, ready with their cars, follow her tutorials on YouTube. The video channel also has an extensive section dedicated to the reconstruction of historical dresses with traditional sewing and embroidery techniques, a guide and source of inspiration for millions of little girls around the world. It has 1.12 million subscribers to its channel, the New Yorker Bernadette Banner with behind her studies in the field of fashion and experience in tatrial tailoring. The success he owes to his antique outfits made entirely at home. For bridesmaid dresses,corsets and caps use sewing machines of the time, such as a recently purchased 1892 Victorian Singer.