1846: Elias Howe patents the first practical sewing machine and threads his way into the fabric of history. French tailor Barthelemy Thimonnier patented a device in 1830 that mechanized the ...

Many inventors modified and improved sewing machines through the 1800s. Elias Howe and Isaac Merritt Singer are credited with the foot treadle and these machines became very popular. On the ...

Credit for these should go to American Elias Howe, best known for the creation of the modern lockstitch sewing machine. Born on July 29, 1819, in Massachusetts, Howe spent most of his childhood ...