History

antique sewing machines

Welcome to the home of Antique Sewing Machines

The invention of the first sewing machine dates back to about 1790. It took about 40 years of experimentation, failures and frustration before the first American Sewing Machine became somewhat functional and useful. In 1834, American’s first usable sewing machine was invented. However, it wasn’t until the 1850’s that America’s famous brand-name sewing machines went into mass production by an inventor named, Isaac Singer. The Singer Sewing machine was the first of its kind in America that used a needle that went up and down rather the side to side motion of previous models that failed to gain the mass acceptance of tailors. The Singer Sewing machine was powered by a foot treadle rather than the hand-crank of previous machines. Some interesting patent violations occurred between inventors Singer, Howe and Hunt whose sewing machines used a lock-stitch with two spools of thread and an eye-pointed needle.

Sewing Machines have such a rich, deep and interesting history in America that they are heavily coveted by antique collectors. You can go back in time 200 years or more on eBay and find fascinating antique sewing machines from just about every decade. Sewing Machine Search has sorted these valuable antiques by decade, type and brand name. Singer has remained the top-selling, most popular brand of sewing machine, and Sewing Machine Search has store pages dedicated to all of the major brands, including Singer.