Curated OER
Sewing Unit (Textiles)
Get out that sewing machine it's time for a textile project. The class learns how to use a sewing machine, read a pattern, and create a simple article of clothing. They identify the sewing machine parts, use an iron, and think about...
Curated OER
Bank On it! Inventions
In this science activity, learners complete a cloze activity about inventions. They read an article about Isaac Merritt Singer, who invented the sewing machine. The article includes 9 blanks to fill in.
Curated OER
The Sewing Machine
Students examine the parts of the sewing machine and how to thread it. They demonstrate basic skills related to clothing and textiles. They assess their employability and discuss careers in clothing construction or crafts.
Curated OER
Vocational: Basic Sewing
Young scholars discover how to use sewing machines, ironing boards, and steam irons. Using diagrams, they label all the parts of a sewing machine and solve crossword puzzles in groups. Following a teacher demonstration, students sew...
Curated OER
Exploring Machine Trapunto
This machine quilting class will teach you how to add beautiful trapunto effects without having to make tiny slits in the back of your quilt. (Shops and teachers may use this description in their announcements, flyers, etc.)
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Spotlight Biography Inventors
This site provides information on American inventors Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, Eli Whitney, Thomas Jefferson, Isaac Singer, Wilbur Wright, Thomas Alva Edison, Elias Howe, and Alexander Graham Bell. It offers pictures from and...
Great Idea Finder
The Great Idea Finder: Invention of the Sewing Machine
The history of the sewing machine is found at this site.
Hunkins Experiments
The Secret Life of Machines
An entertaining site that communicates ideas through cartoon drawings. Discover how simple machines and gadgets operate, such as fax machines and washing machines.
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Sewing Machine
A history of the sewing machine is given with a discussion of Elias Howe and the contributions of others to perfect and improve on the machine. Describes the types of stitches a sewing machine can do, and the social impact of the sewing...
PBS
Pbs: Who Made America?: Innovators: Isaac Merritt Singer
This founder of the first American multinational company innovated key elements in the design of the sewing machine and marketed it to households, freeing millions of women around the world from hand-sewing.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Technology of the 1800s
[Free Registration/Login Required] Article considers the inventions and innovations in communication, transportation, and manufacturing that drove America forward in the nineteenth century. Includes a link to an interactive history of...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Libraries: Sewing Machines
The Smithsonian Institute provides a comprehensive background of the sewing machine. Includes pictures, a timeline, literature and additional resources.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Inventors and Inventions
The industrial revolution in America spawned the inventions of many inventors, who improved technology in many different areas. See how transportation, agriculture, and communications were transformed because of these inventions.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Inventor of the Week: Isaac Merrit Singer (1811 75)
Biographical sketch of inventor Isaac Merrit Singer, who produced the first commercially successful sewing machine in New York, in the late 1850s.
Great Idea Finder
Sewing Machine History: Invention of the Sewing Machine
The history of the sewing machine dates back to 1755. This page describes the breakthroughs, ending with Singer's design in 1851. Links to sites about sewing machines.
PBS
American Experience: Technology Timeline: 1752 1990
Short descriptions of important technological innovations produced in America and the date of their introduction.
Enchanted Learning
Enchanted Learning: Inventors & Inventions 1801 1850
This site from Enchanted Learning presents several brief overviews of major early nineteenth century inventors and their inventions. The information is accessible by clicking on the corresponding link.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian: Sewing Machine
The Smithsonian offers a brief description of Isaac Singer's sewing machine, along with a picture and patent information.
NSTATE
People of Connecticut: Elias Howe
This site is provided for by Netstate.com. Who's who in Connecticut history? Elias Howe invented the first sewing machine. Biography and picture.
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Elias Howe
A look at Elias Howe who patented the first sewing machine, and the two men who made improvements to it and made it a staple of garment factories.