Turn of the century sewing in Detroit, Michigan
Sewing is an ancient craft involving the stitching of cloth, animal skins, furs, or other materials, using needle and thread. Its use is nearly universal among human populations and dates back to Paleolithic times (30,000 BC). Sewing predates the weaving of cloth.
Sewing is used primarily to produce clothing and household furnishings as curtains, bedclothes, upholstery, and table linens. It is also used for sails, bellows, skin boats, and other items shaped out of flexible materials such as canvas and leather.
Most sewing in the industrial world is done by machines. Pieces of a garment or the edge of a cloth are firstly tacked together. Some people sew clothes for themselves and their families. More often home sewers sew to repair clothes, such as mending a torn seam or replacing a loose button. A person who sews for a living is known as a seamstress, dressmaker, tailor, or garment worker.
"Plain" sewing is done for functional reasons: making or mending clothing or household linens. "Fancy" sewing is primarily decorative, including techniques such as shirring, embroidery, or quilting.
Sewing is the foundation for many needle arts and crafts, such as applique, canvas work, and patchwork.
Sewing Tools and Accessories
Notions (Objects Sewn Into Garments or Soft Goods)
List of stitches
- back tack
- backstitch - for imitating machine stitches
- basting stitch (or tacking) - for temporary fixing
- blanket stitch
- blind stitch (or hem stitch)
- buttonhole stitch
- chain stitch
- cross-stitch
- feather stitch
- hemming stitch
- lockstitch
- overlock
- padding stitch
- running stitch - for seams and gathering
- slip stitch - for fastening a folded edge to a flat piece of fabric, or to another folded edge
- straight stitch
- topstitch
- whipstitch (or oversewing stitch) - for protecting edges
- zig-zag stitch
See also: sewing machine