Q: How often is it recommended you change your sewing machine needle?

A: Every 6 – 8 hours of sewing. Believe it or not, worn, burred and slightly bent needles are common causes of sewing machine problems.

Q: What common expression is derived from the fabric that was needed to make the fanciest coat for a man of fashion?

A: The whole nine yards.

Q: What distance on your body most closely equals 1 yard?

A: The distance from your nose to your fingertips.

Among wackier devices was one that actually was used in the 19th Century England,
that is until the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Stepped in. It was a sewing machine powered by small leashed dogs on a kind of treadmill.
Thomas Edison supposedly invented another sewing machine, though his biography makes no mention of it...that worked on voice power. A membrane mounted level with the operators mouth transformed sound waves into energy.
One pair of scissors, invented in France, boasted 18 different uses! It supposedly served, among other things, as a straight edge and ruler, a nail file, screw driver, a pen knife, a glass cutter, a wire cutter, an ink eraser, a pattern perforator, and a cigar clipper.

Did you know there are about 64 million sewers in the United States?

51% of sewers own at least 3 machines! Only 19% own only 1.

The first functional sewing machine was invented by the French tailor, Barthelemy Thimonnier, in 1830. Thimonnier's machine used only one thread and a hooked needle that made the same chain stitch used with embroidery. The inventor was almost killed by an enraged group of French tailors who burnt down his garment factory because they feared unemployment as a result of his new invention.