Two Threads and a Sewing Machine
A row of stitches can hold two pieces of cloth together through many tugs and washes. Making those stitches by hand takes time. Sewing machines helped people do the job faster, but no single inventor created the sewing machine alone.
One important inventor was Elias Howe, born on July 9, 1819, in Massachusetts. In 1846, he received a United States patent for a sewing machine that made a lockstitch. A patent gives an inventor certain legal rights over an invention for a limited time.
A lockstitch uses two threads. In Howe’s machine, a needle carried the upper thread down through the fabric. When the needle rose slightly, it left a loop of thread below the cloth. A small part called a shuttle carried the second thread through that loop. As the threads tightened, they locked together inside the fabric. The machine repeated these steps to form a line of stitches.
Howe was not the first person to work on machine sewing. Years earlier, American inventor Walter Hunt had built a machine that also used a lockstitch, though he did not patent it at the time. Other inventors contributed different ideas and improvements. Isaac Singer, for example, developed a machine with features that made sewing more practical for many users.
- fabric:
- Cloth made from threads or fibers.
- loop:
- A curved shape made when a thread bends around.
- contributed:
- Added something helpful to a shared effort.
- practical:
- Useful and suitable for a real purpose.
- profits:
- Money gained after costs are paid.
- disputes:
- Disagreements or conflicts.
- eventually:
- In the end, after some time.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1What main idea about inventions does the history of the sewing machine show?
- 2How did the needle and shuttle work together to make a lockstitch?
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About this explanatory article passage for Upper Elementary
“Two Threads and a Sewing Machine” is a explanatory article reading passage about Sewing machine history, written for Upper Elementary. It takes about 2 minutes to read (274 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.