Merrow Sewing Machine Company

This article is about the sewing machine manufacturer. For the creature of myth, see Merrow.

Merrow Sewing Machine Company

Type	Private
Industry	Textiles
Founded	1838
Headquarters	Fall River, Massachusetts, USA
Key people	Charlie Merrow, Chairman & CEO Owen Merrow, President
Products	Overlock sewing machines; Crochet sewing machines; End-to-end seaming machines; Sewing machine parts; Sewing machine needles
Number of employees	~25 (2010)
Website	http://www.merrow.com

The Merrow® Sewing Machine Company is a manufacturer of sewing machines, established in 1838 as J.M. Merrow & Son by J. Makens Merrow.^[1]^[2] Originally a gunpowder manufacturer, in 1837 the company built a knitting mill, and in 1887 evolved to design, build and market sewing machines exclusively. Best known for inventing the overlock sewing machine, it was renamed J. B. Merrow & Sons in 1888, then The Merrow Machine Company in 1893. Originally all of its manufacturing was done at facilities in Merrow, Connecticut and then in Hartford, Connecticut. The company is currently based in Fall River, Massachusetts.

History

In the early 19th Century Mr. Joseph Makens Merrow became interested in the manufacture of gunpowder and purchased a powder mill 24 miles from Hartford Connecticut. After the Mill was destroyed by explosion, in 1837 it was decided to build a knitting factory on the same site using water power from an adjacent river.

At first the knitted goods were made largely of native wool which was sorted, scoured and dyed, picked, carded and spun into yarn and knitted into hosiery. The product was sold through commission merchants in New York and delivered to retail stores throughout New England by two-horse wagons. Following the gold rush of 1849 shipments of goods began to sail to San Francisco. As business increased, a small machine shop was started to support the equipment in the factory. ^[3]^[4]

References

Sewing

Techniques	Basting Cut Darning Ease Embellishment Fabric tube turning Floating canvas Gather Godet Gusset Heirloom sewing Shirring

Stitches	List of sewing stitches Backstitch Bar tack Blanket Blind stitch Buttonhole Catch stitch Chain stitch Cross-stitch Embroidery stitch Hemstitch Lockstitch Overlock Pad stitch Pick stitch Rantering Running Sashiko Stoating Tack Topstitch Zigzag

Seams	Felled seam Seam allowance Style line

Notions Trims	Bias tape Collar stays Elastic Grommet / Eyelet Interfacing Passementerie Piping Ruffle Rickrack Self-fabric Soutache Trim Twill tape Wrights

Closures	Buckle Button Buttonhole Frog Hook-and-eye Hook and loop fastener Shank Snap Zipper

Materials	Bias Yarn / Thread Selvage Textiles / Fabrics

Tools	Bobbin Dress form Needle threader Pattern notcher Pin Pincushion Pinking shears Scissors Seam ripper Sewing needle Stitching awl Tailor's ham Tape measure Thimble Tracing paper Tracing wheel

Trades Suppliers	Cloth merchant Draper Dressmaker Haberdasher Mercer Sewing occupations Tailor

Sewing machine manufacturers	Barthélemy Thimonnier Bernina Brother Industries Elias Howe Elna Feiyue Frister & Rossmann Janome Jones Sewing Machine Company Juki Merrow New Home Pfaff Sewmor Singer Tapemaster Viking / Husqvarna White

Pattern Manufacturers	Butterick Burda Clothkits McCall's Simplicity

Glossary of sewing terms

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