How many stitches are there? As I understand it, the US government has registered thousands of different stitches. These include hand stitches, utility stitches, decorative stitches, lettering stitch sets, serger stitches, and a variety of industrial stitches. The home sewing machine, however, had only a straight stitch for almost a hundred years. Modern sewing machines have between 25 and 1,000 different stitches.



There are several distinctly different types of sewing machines and each type uses slightly different systems to select and form stitches.

The least expensive sewing machines today are mechanical sewing machines. By this we mean, they use levers, gears, and belts driven by an AC electric motor to run the sewing machine. There are two shafts, an upper one drives the needle bar. A lower shaft drives the feed system and hook assembly. There is an absence of advanced electronics.

Stitches are formed in a mechanical machine by aligning cam trackers (levers that rub against a cam gear with bumps and shallows) with the cam gear so that when the cam gear moved the tracker lever will bounce back and forth. This movement is then transferred by lever to the needle assembly moving the needle bar back and forth and up and down to form the desired stitches.

Surface mounted dials, levers, and buttons known as stitch selector control the position of the cam tracker levers in relation to the cam gear. To produce the desired stitch, the cam tracker must line up precisely with the appropriate groove on the cam gear. Often this connection slips out of alignment, and requires realignment. Also it is common for plastic cam gears to split, deteriorate, or otherwise break. When this happens, it is necessary to replace the cam gear.

Electronic sewing machines use electronics to control the power drive system and the stitch selection system. Note many machines are blends of mechanicals and electronic technologies, and others are blends of electronics and computer technologies. Fully electronic sewing machines use electronic circuits to manage motor output giving the sewing machine greater torque, increased consistency, and smoother sewing.

Primarily the electronic machines add improved power control and smoother operation of the sewing machine. The hum of the mechanical sewing machines AC motor is reduced or eliminated. Electronic sewing machines offer many more stitches.

The next level of sewing machines is called computerized sewing machines. These machines have revolutionized the sewing machine industry with huge advancements in technologies. These machines offer far more stitches while making sewing smoother, easier, and more dependable. The computer technology has transformed the sewing machine like so many other products. It controls super quiet DC pulse motors, programs amazing stitches, and gives the user greatly expanded creative potential. A touch of a button or a spot on a touch screen yields up to a thousand different stitches.

Mechanical sewing machines use buttons, dials, and levers to select stitches.

An electronic switch is used in electronic sewing machines to select stitches.

Select stitches on a computerized sewing machine by touching a touch screen, pressing a keypad, or pressing a button.

Take an inventory of your sewing machine. Cut a long piece of test fabric. Begin sewing a short row of each stitch your sewing machine offers. One by one make your way through every stitch your machine offers sew out each one and adjust the length and width of the stitches to see all the variations you have available. You may be surprised by what you find. If your sewing machine is a cheap mechanical machine, it may only have straight and zig zag stitches of various stitch function settings (varied stitch length and/or width). If you have a more expensive machine you may have twenty, fifty, a hundred, or even hundreds of different stitches. Make your own stitch set book. Cut your stitch selections into pieces about four inches long. Stack all your pieces one on top of each other. Sew a seam along one side and keep this stitch set for later reference.

Now you know how to select the various stitches on your sewing machine. You also have a visual example of each stitch.