History
Sewing History Revisited
By Dr. Trevor J. Little, Professor Emeritus, North Carolina State University, and Needle's Eye Contributing Writer
It is always instructive to visit sewing machines of yesteryear as they tell us whence we come.
I am the owner of an 1870 Willcox & Gibbs treadle machine, and it is still in working order as a single-thread chainstitch sewing machine. To my knowledge, it was the Civil War in the USA that helped W&G become a leader in the specialized field of sewing. The serial number on my machine is 156903 which records say was made in 1870.
Willcox & Gibbs Serial Number 156903 from 1870
Another feature of this unit is the glass tension discs that control thread tension. Of course today, technology has replaced thread tensioners with metal discs and springs but sewing continues to be a “negative” tension control system just as it was in 1870.
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The glass tensioner that was typical of thread tension control in the 1800s
Maybe we will have positive tension control in the near future so that every stitch will be exact. I can see the naithsayers ask how we will perform stitch condensing?
Willcox and Gibbs contracted with a precision machining company in the USA to make their machines.
My 1870 Willcox & Gibbs sewing machine
The early Willcox and Gibbs patents were from the 1860s and the machine lists New York, London, and Paris as centers for the firm.
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James Edward Allen Gibbs (1829–1902) was a farmer, inventor, and businessman from Rockbridge County in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and the inventor of the first known chainstitch machine. History states that it was Gibbs Patent 17,427 in 1857 for the looper that gained the attention of Willcox. Of course, Gibbs was a confederate soldier while Willcox was from further north, yet the Willcox & Gibbs company prospered.
The Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Company was started in 1857 by James E. A. Gibbs and James Willcox when it opened its London Office in 1859 at 135 Regent Street, London.
The Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Company was started in 1857 by James E. A. Gibbs and James Willcox when it opened its London Office in 1859 at 135 Regent Street, London.
However, history also has its twists and turns and by 1870 the machine that was produced created a 101 stitch. Most professionals in the fashion world have abandoned the early Gibbs method in favor of a straight 101 stitch.
So, what did happen between 1857 and 1870 to go from the twisted loop of Gibbs machines to the 101 stitch of the early Willcox & Gibbs treadle machines? We may not know for certain, but what we do now know is that J.E.A. Gibbs had a major role in changing the fashion world over to a single-thread sewing method.
This image is of my
History is rarely taught as it unfolded, but those of us in the sewing business must credit James Edward Allen Gibbs with the invention of the 101 chainstitch (modified). Its significance is that he changed the garment trade by offering a machine at approximately half the price of the competing Singer machine of that time.
By the way, many items continue to use a single thread 101 stitch for the production of garments and other items such as bag-stitchers and button sewers. A feature of the 101 stitch is that it unravels easily and therefore finds practical use in items where access to the product therein is needed quickly.
Of interest is the fact that the Gibbs Patent clearly shows that a twisted loop was formed with the use of his rotating hook in 1857. You can see Figures 9 and 10 of the Gibbs patent that clearly shows a twisted loop.
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Patent No. 17,427 issued to J.E.A. Gibbs on June 2, 1857
No delve into history would be complete without a short description of the attachments that came with the machine.
Attachments that were included with my machine
It always is of interest how much know-how we may have forgotten mostly because of not knowing the history of technology advancement that is still relevant today.
Technology has its own pace of involvement. Personally, I embrace (sensible) the advancement of technological solutions and will continue to comment upon things that make a difference to the product in favor of the consumer.
Through this journey, I am embarrassed to say that the contributions of Gibbs to the development of the apparel fashion industry may have been overlooked by the history books and maybe we can add Gibbs‘s contributions to the Hall of Fame.
The height of the top of the treadle is 28 inches (71.12 cm) which means that users in that era had different anthropometric data than today. Older equipment that was mass-produced can be used to define the average size of the user at the time of manufacture. (By the way, today’s standard for height of bathroom tops is 36 inches (91.44 cm) according to recent code and practice.)
History teaches us about the people, technology, entrepreneurship, and many more aspects of life that are the relevant aspects of today. Furthermore, the significant breakaway for the sewing business came in the latter part of the 1850s to early 1860s with the Gibbs invention. While the company Willcox & Gibbs does not produce sewing machines today, its place in history is most relevant.