Sewing machine in the context of "Lateral thinking"

Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or other lubricants to withstand the stresses involved in sewing. Embroidery threads are yarns specifically designed for needlework. Yarn can be made of a number of natural or synthetic materials, and comes in a variety of colors and thicknesses (referred to as "weights"). Although yarn may be dyed different colours, most yarns are solid coloured with a uniform hue.

Sewing is the craft of fastening pieces of textiles together using a sewing needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, originating in the Paleolithic era. Archaeological evidence suggests that early humans in Europe and Asia produced garments from fur and leather clothing using bone, antler or ivory sewing-needles and "thread" made of various animal body parts including sinew, catgut, and veins.

For thousands of years, all sewing was done by hand. The sewing machine which was invented in the 19th century enabled mechanized stitching, and the mass production of garments expanded in the 20th century. Hand sewing remains common in high-quality tailoring, haute couture fashion, and custom dressmaking, and is practiced by both textile artists and hobbyists as a means of creative expression.

A bobbin or spool is a spindle or cylinder, with or without flanges, on which yarn, thread, wire, tape or film is wound. Bobbins are typically found in industrial textile machinery, as well as in sewing machines, fishing reels, tape measures, film rolls, cassette tapes, within electronic and electrical equipment, and for various other applications.

Clothing industry, or garment industry, refers to the range of trade and industry sectors involved in the production and value chain of clothing and garments. This includes the textile industry (producers of cotton, wool, fur, and synthetic fibre), embellishment using embroidery, the fashion industry, apparel retailers, and trade in second-hand clothes and textile recycling. Textile factories are also called "mills". Textiles factories or "mills" turn the natural or synthetic materials into Yarn which will be sent for weaving and knitting (process of turning yarn into a textile cloth). Then apparel textile mills make wearable pieces from those textile cloths. The producing sectors build upon a wealth of clothing technology some of which, like the loom, the cotton gin, and the sewing machine heralded industrialization not only of the previous textile manufacturing practices. Clothing industries are also known as allied industries, fashion industries, garment industries, or soft goods industries.

A Pitman arm is a shaft that translates rotary or angular movement into linear movement, or vice versa. Pitman arms are commonly found in water pumping windmills, automotive steering systems, and sewing machines.

In windmills, the Pitman arm connects the driving gear to the pumping arm. It translates the rotary power from the wind blades to the up-and-down motion of the pumping arm.

In sewing and embroidery, a satin stitch or damask stitch is a series of flat stitches that are used to completely cover a section of the background fabric. Narrow rows of satin stitch can be executed on a standard sewing machine using a zigzag stitch or a special satin stitch foot.

In order to maintain a smooth edge, shapes can be outlined with back, split or chain stitch before the entire shape including the outline is covered with satin stitch. In traditional practice, satin stitch is employed to fill an area without the presence of an outline, resulting in smooth shapes and even lines created by the stitching.

A lockstitch is the most common mechanical stitch made by a sewing machine. The term "single needle stitching", often found on dress shirt labels, refers to lockstitch.