With bone needles discovered from as long ago as the Ice Age, we now know that sewing has in fact been around for quite some time. But it wasn't until the last 200 years and the advent of the Industrial Revolution that the industrial sewing machine was introduced, changing the way and the speed in which garments could be produced.
 
The increased speed of production and the machine features such as zigzag stitching and use of a swing needle transformed how the entire industry operated. Like many of the early equipment invented, this machine copied the action of the human arm when sewing.

The machines require a large sturdy frame usually made from iron or strong steel, although a variety of different metals could be utilized to craft the actual fittings. The main criterion is that the parts should be durable and strong enough to take the demand of being used for long hours.

Origins of the industrial sewing machine stems from England, France and the United States of America. Many countries actually play a role in the development and advancement of one of the most vital pieces of equipment used worldwide.  

The first patent on a machine that allows leather and canvas to be stitched was declared in 1790 by a man called Thomas Saint. In 1807, two Englishman, William and Edward Chapman, added a new innovation and built a sewing machine with the eye of the needle at the bottom of the needle and not at the top.
    
These machines were becoming so good at their job that less people were required to work in the industrial factories where these were being used. A patent by Frenchman Bartheleemy Thimmonier on a machine that produced a cross stitch using a curved needle increased production of the French Armies uniform and as a result, over 160 tailors rioted, destroying all the machines and almost killing Thimmonier in the process.

Come 1834, an American by the name of Walter Hunt created machines that featured a locked stitch from underneath with a second thread. This was however never patented, and it was down to a fellow American Elias Howe to get credit for the invention.   

He designed and patented a machine he made in 1846 with the help of a good friend who backed him financially. Howe tried to market his machine in England but he realized that others had copied his machine back in the States. He took the companies who copied his ideas to court and won his cases in 1854, making this a landmark case in the history of patent law.

With so many patents being made towards the industrial sewing machine, Howe and his main competitor Isaac Singer decided to create a "patent pool" along with two other manufacturers. When the civil war broke out, huge orders of uniforms drove demand for production, paving the way for Howe and Singer to become multi-millionaire inventors.