For as long as I can remember, I've been sewing buttons back onto shirts for my dad and three brothers. It used to be easy when we lived in the same house. But as us kids have grown up and moved away, ...

1846: Elias Howe patents the first practical sewing machine and threads his way into the fabric of history. French tailor Barthelemy Thimonnier patented a device in 1830 that mechanized the typical ...