A sewing machine stitches cloth far faster than any hand could. A needle going up and down, and a second thread underneath.
The clever part is the lockstitch, where a bobbin thread catches the loop of the needle thread beneath the fabric, and that mechanism is what made mass-produced clothing possible in the nineteenth century. It also made a great many home dressmakers. Threading one is the first hurdle, and the tension dial is the source of most swearing.
1nounsewing machineA machine for stitching fabric.
“She still has her mother's sewing machine.”
Practised in A Man Called Ove, Knitting & Sewing
First appears in chapter 11 of A Man Called Ove.
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