by Rosemary Ann Guiley

Elias Howe is a Massachusetts textile expert, mechanic, and inventor. The year is 1846, and Howe has been working hard to perfect a machine that he knows will revolutionize industry: a sewing machine. There is only one major problem he cannot solve: how to work the thread with the needle.

Howe wonders whether or not to abandon his idea. Then one night he has a vivid and odd dream. He is in a jungle. The natives capture him and threaten to kill him if he can’t solve his sewing machine problem. He notices that their spears have holes in the tips.

Howe awakens in great excitement. He has the answer to his problem: put a hole in the needle and put the thread through it. The sewing machine is born, enabling clothing to be mass-produced at cheaper costs. (more…)