| With the rapid advancement in technology for electric | | | | sewing machines are used every day worldwide, |
| sewing machines a machine for every type of stitch | | | | some with up to thirty different heads, though most |
| was being born. It took several tries, however, to come | | | | jobs require only the smaller machines. |
| up with a machine that could handle the task of | | | | Industrial sewing machines, like their domestic |
| embroidery. | | | | counterparts for the home seamstress, were created |
| Thomas Stone and James Henderson were granted a | | | | to simplify and speed up the otherwise labor-intensive |
| French patent in 1804 for "a machine that emulated | | | | hand stitching. Higher-end sewing machine models |
| hand sewing." That same year a patent was granted | | | | developed for the home often feature a hoop |
| to Scott John Duncan for an "embroidery machine with | | | | attachment and an embroider stitch mode. Crafters |
| multiple needles." The machines of all three men were | | | | and seamstresses, who would use this feature, were |
| unsuccessful and never came to being. It wasn't until | | | | frequently frustrated at having to constantly change |
| 1860, that Isaak Groebli combined previous hand | | | | out the different thread colors. Today's advanced |
| looming techniques with existing sewing machine | | | | embroider sewing machines feature single or |
| technology to create the first embroidery sewing | | | | multi-heads for different spools of thread and are as |
| machine. | | | | easily available to the home seamstress as to the |
| The technology advanced greatly in 1911 when the | | | | large garment factory. Many machine-embroidered |
| Singer Sewing Company developed the first multi-head | | | | items are created in small home-based businesses |
| embroidery sewing machine with six heads and a | | | | with affordable, easy-to-use, computer-operated |
| pantograph attachment. It wasn't until the 1950s that | | | | embroidery sewing machines that do not require a lot |
| more advancements were introduced and technology | | | | of room. Specialized attachments allow for embroidery |
| continued to advance with computerization. During this | | | | to be added to a variety of pre-manufactured |
| decade, advancements in the sale of licensing rights | | | | products and fabrics, as well as the addition of sequins |
| and mass-merchandising opened up the market for | | | | and other fancy enhancements. |
| factory-based embroidered items. Today embroidery | | | | |