The Three Types Of Sewing Machines

Sewing machines can be classified according to how they work. The three types of sewing machine (whether Industrial or Home based) are mechanical sewing machine, electrical sewing machine and computer aided sewing machine. Here are short overviews of these three types of sewing machines.

Mechanical Sewing Machine

They were the first to be developed in the year 1800. Rotary wheels, which can be controlled by hand, or foot drives them. Knobs and dials control the tension and the length and breadth of the stitches. The first machines that were created could do only chain stitch by using a looper. But they were weak and broke easily. Next came the lockstitch sewing machine which used a hook and a bobbin thread to create stitch patterns. They are hardier and more long lasting than chain stitch. Today, there are machines that, apart from these stitches, do blind stitches, buttonhole and button stitches.

These types of machines are still in use in industrial as well as in homes. The reason is that they are less expensive and easy to maintain. The leading companies in this market are Bernina, Kenmore, Singer, Elna, Juki and Brother Industries, Merrow, Durkopp Adler, Pfaff and Consew.

Electrical Sewing Machine

When electricity became easily available, there came the electrical sewing machine. At first the motor used to be on the side but was later included into the casing. Today, most industrial sewing machines are electrical in nature. They use buttons instead of dials and knobs to control the length and breadth of the stitch. They have more than one motor each assigned to do a specific task. Singer, Elna and Janome Dare some good manufacturers of electrical sewing machine.

Computer Aided Sewing Machine

They can be called as an offshoot of electrical sewing machine as they also use buttons instead of dials and knobs. In addition to it, they have a microprocessor which helps them to accept new designs and implement them on garments. They even have information on which color of thread is to be used. They can work with 20 to 30 spools of thread at a single time or allow more than one person to work on the same design. The latest high-end machines need little or no supervision at all. But they are costly and need a lot of space. However, with advancement of science, computer aided machines are being made for home users as well. This has led to development of small scale home based sewing business. Singer, Janome and brothers have different models for the computerized sewing machine.

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