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"The house-wife plies her needle and her thread, / Long after idle people are in bed; / The rent is small, but she full well doth know, / That little rents to larger ones will grow."—Barber, 1857

A Stitch in Time, Saves Nine

"The house-wife plies her needle and her thread, / Long after idle people are in bed; / The rent is…

A single thread formed into a chain of crochet work

Crochet Work

A single thread formed into a chain of crochet work

A basic pattern used in cross-stitching.

Cross-Stitch

A basic pattern used in cross-stitching.

"Primitive curtain of reeds and twine stitch." -Beard, 1906

Primitive curtain

"Primitive curtain of reeds and twine stitch." -Beard, 1906

"In the year 1589 the stocking-frame, the machine which mechanically produces the looped stitch in hosiery, was invented by the Rev. William Lee, a graduate of Cambridge, and native of Woodborough, near Nottingham. The fundamental principle of the apparatus consists in the substitution of a seperate hooked or barbed needle for the support and working of each loop, in place of the system whereby an indefinate number of loops are skewered on one or more wires or needles. At R is seen a thread of yarn passed over the needle stalks and within the terminal hooks. The yarn, it will be observed, is waved or depressed between each pair of needles, whereby sufficient yarn is secured to form the seperate loops of uniform size, and thus produce a regular equal fabric." — Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Hosiery

"In the year 1589 the stocking-frame, the machine which mechanically produces the looped stitch in hosiery,…

The stitch or loop structure of plain knitting.

Knitting Stitch

The stitch or loop structure of plain knitting.

A sewing machine is a textile machine used to stitch fabric or other material together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies.

Sewing Machine

A sewing machine is a textile machine used to stitch fabric or other material together with thread.…

Fancy cross stitching used to make the designs in pillow cases.

Pillow-lace

Fancy cross stitching used to make the designs in pillow cases.

Fancy cross stitching used to make the designs in pillow cases.

Pillow-lace

Fancy cross stitching used to make the designs in pillow cases.

In knitting, ribbing is a pattern in which vertical stripes of stockinette stitch alternate with vertical stripes of reverse stockinette stitch.

Rib Stitch

In knitting, ribbing is a pattern in which vertical stripes of stockinette stitch alternate with vertical…

"a is the bobbin case; c, bobbin; b, thread wound on bobbin; d, projection from bobbin-case which keeps it from turning; e, thread leading out." —Whitney, 1889

Bobbin Detail of Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine

"a is the bobbin case; c, bobbin; b, thread wound on bobbin; d, projection from bobbin-case which keeps…

"a is the bobbin holder, partly opened to show hook b, and bobbin-case c; d, feed-points; e, presser-foot." — Whitney, 1889

Bobbin Detail of Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine

"a is the bobbin holder, partly opened to show hook b, and bobbin-case c; d, feed-points; e, presser-foot."…

A detail of the Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine. "s, thread-leader; t, face-plate covering...; v, presser thumb-screw; w, thread-check; x, tension-nut by which tension is regulated; y, tension-pulley around which the thread is wound, and which is caused to turn less or more easily by the nut x; z, thread-guide and controller; z2, presser-foot." —Whitney, 1889

Detail of Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine

A detail of the Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine. "s, thread-leader; t, face-plate covering...; v,…

A detail of a Singer sewing machine.

Details of a sewing machine

A detail of a Singer sewing machine.

"a, is the frame; b, shaft-crank which rocks the hook-shaft; e, receiving its motion from the double crank on the upper shaft e in the arm g through the shaft-connection c; d, band-wheel turned by a band (not shown) from a wheel on treadle-shaft below the table; f, feed-cam; h, feed-bar; i, bobbin-case; j, rotating hook which is attached to e and oscillates with it; k, bobbin-holder; l, presser; m, presser-spring; n, needle-bar link; o, needle-bar; p, take-up lever; q, take-up cam; r, spool-holder...." —Whitney, 1889

Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine

"a, is the frame; b, shaft-crank which rocks the hook-shaft; e, receiving its motion from the double…