Sewing Thread: A History
Thread is used for hand sewing, in home sewing machines and in various forms of stitching equipment. Forms of very early sewing thread were made of thin strips of animal hide. This was used to sew together larger pieces of hide and fur for clothing, blankets and shelter. There is proof throughout history of some form of threading used even when cavemen were in charge of the planet. As civilizations moved forward thread did also and eventually evolved to including the spinning and dyeing of thread.
According to historical archives the Egyptians had made making thread from plant fibers and in using the wool and hair from domestic animals in spinning an art form. They and the Phoenicians developed the use of berries and plant matter to color thread as well. The Middle Ages saw improvements in shipping, wool production and processing and trading with Asia gave way to other types of thread for Europe as well as other countries. The Egyptians worked hard to refine the art of making thread that was usable for the creation of clothing. Later in the following decades the Chinese and Japanese took the whole process one step further and discovered silk fibers spun as thread and made as cloth to develop an even more refined threading.
The Middle Ages saw improvements in shipping, wool production and processing and trading with Asia gave way to other types of thread for Europe as well as other countries. Seamstresses and needle workers became both artist and essential workers providing the world with needlework in the form of tapestries and blankets fit as art work as well as clothing.
The Industrial Revolution saw the production of thread created in factories equipped with high-speed machines thus industrializing thread making and clothes making. Threads made with machines tended to be stronger with fewer mistakes. According to the American Sewing Guild, 95 percent of all sewing thread that is manufactured today is used in commercial and industrial sewing.
There are three basic types of thread and they are based on their origin, Thread is animal, plant, or synthetic depending on its make up. Silk thread is touted as the best because it is strong, very elastic, and fine in diameter. Silk is interwoven into a lot of regular threads for added strength. Pure silk thread use is done in finer clothing.
Cotton threads are the most common and are made of the cellulose from plants. Cotton threads may shrink and does not stretch.
Other types of threads are Nylon and polyester and they are preferred for synthetics and stretch knits. These are synthetic threads and do not shrink. Nylon thread enjoyed it’s hey day in the 1960s and 1970s.
Thread, no matter what they are made of, is one of those materials that society can’t live without. Everything created with cloth has to utilize thread. In the end you can honestly say, to a great degree that thread holds us all, or at least our clothes, together.
