ed for machine needles, the development of
various types of attachments to simplify the many sewing tasks, and the
ever-increasing need for more and better sewing thread--the sewing
machine consumed from two to five times as much thread as stitching by
hand--created new manufacturing establishments and new jobs.

[Illustration: Figure 59.--SHANK'S patent bobbin winder, 1870.
(Smithsonian photo P-6398.)]

[Illustration: Figure 60.--SWEET'S patent binder, 1853. (Smithsonian
photo P-6396.)]

[Illustration: Figure 61.--SPOUL'S patent braid guide, 1871.
(Smithsonian photo P-63102.)]

[Illustration: Figure 62.--ROSE'S patent embroiderer, 1881. (Smithsonian
photo P-6399.)]

[Illustration: Figure 63.--HARRIS' patent buttonhole attachment, 1882.
(Smithsonian photo P-63103.)]

The method of manufacturing machine needles did not differ appreciably
from the method used in making the common sewing needle, but the latter
had never become an important permanent industry in the United States.
Since the manufacture of practical sewing machines was essentially an
American development and the eye-pointed needle a vital component of the
machine, it followed that the manufacture of needles would also develop
here. Although such a manufacture was established in 1852,[83] foreign
imports still supplied much of the need in the 1870s. As more highly
specialized stitching machines were developed, an ever-increasing
variety of needles was required, and the industry grew.

[Illustration: Figure 64.--THE TREADLE OF THE MACHINE was also used to
help create music. George D. Garvie and George Wood received patent
267,874, Nov. 21, 1882, for "a cover for a sewing machine provided with
a musical instrument and means for transmitting motion from the shaft of
the sewing machine to the operating parts of the musical instrument."
Although no patent model was submitted by the inventors, the "Musical
Sewing Machine Cover" was offered for sale as early as October 1882, as
shown by this advertisement that appeared in _The Sewing Machine News_
that month. (Smithsonian photo 57983.)]

Soon after the sewing machine was commercially successful, special
attachments for it were invented and manufactured. These ranged from the
simplest devices for cutting thread to complicated ones for making
buttonholes (see figs. 56 through 66).

[Illustration: Figure 65.--THIS FANNING ATTACHMENT was commercially
available from James Morrison & Co. in the early 1870s; it