Janome celebrates 150 Years of Sewing

150 years of evolution is a long time for any industry. In 1860, the Pony Express was established; written communication has certainly come a long way since then. At the same time, clipper ships transformed Trans-Atlantic travel, shortening the sometimes months-long journey to fourteen days. A fourteen-day ocean cruise is now considered a luxury vacation.

Prominent sewing machine manufacturer and distributor, Janome America is proud to commemorate 2010 as the 150th anniversary of its founding.

In 1860, William Barker and Andrew J. Clark, founders of Janome America, began producing sewing machines in Orange, MA. By 1882 they had named their company New Home, and were producing 500 sewing machines per day. In 1960 the Janome brand of Japan purchased New Home to establish its footing in the United States, consolidating manufacturing but not changing the name. Then, in 1995 the company was renamed Janome America, Inc., a reflection of the reputation established throughout the world for quality, reliability and ease-of-use.

It's surprising how far the sewing industry has come over the past 150 years. Those outside of sewing circles often regard the sewing machine as a historical artifact -- something their grandmothers used to create clothes during the Great Depression. Certainly not something stocked in modern-day retail stores. However, a visit to a local sewing machine dealer reveals a thriving, technologically-advanced product.

Janome America's 150th anniversary marks a high-point for achievements in the sewing and quilting industry. The company's founders wouldn't recognize the machine manufactured by their modern counterparts. Janome's top-of-the-line machine, the Memory Craft 11000 Special Edition, can produce embroidery as well as sew traditional stitches, offering 358 built-in stitches and 170 embroidery designs. It features a 640x480 color touchscreen, can link directly to a PC or will accept data from a USB drive, and can store 3MB of data in the sewing machine's own memory banks. It even utilizes technology built for high-precision industrial robots to ensure every stitch is accurate to the thousandth of an inch. And yes, it does thread itself!

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