Comparison of the Lockstitch Power Machine and the Home Sewing Machine:

The lockstitch power machine is similar to the standard lockstitch home sewing machine. (The home sewing machine is also called a household machine or a domestic sewing machine.) However, there are some important differences:

1. The power machine is mounted permanently on a table or stand. Home sewing machines are generally mounted on a table when used in the classroom, but most are portable so they can be moved and put away easily.

2. Thepowermachineismuchfaster,stitching from 3,000 to 6,000 stitches per minute. The fastest home machines can stitch no more than 1,500 stitches per minute; most stitch 1,000 to 1,200 stitches per minute.

3. The industrial machine can have a flat bed, cylinder bed, post bed, or feed-off-arm, and one or more needles. The home sewing machine can have a flat bed or cylinder bed. The cylinder bed is called a free arm on a home sewing machine.

4. Many power machines make only a straight stitch; most home machines make straight and zigzag stitches.

5. Thepresserfootonapowermachineisraised and lowered with a knee lift or special foot pedal that raises and lowers the presser foot. On domestic machines, it is generally oper- ated manually by using a lever at the back of the needle bar.

6. The throat plate on many industrial ma- chines may not be marked with frequently used seam widths.

7. The presser foot on a power machine has a narrow opening between two toes and holds the fabric more firmly than the all- purpose, zigzag foot on the home sewing machine.

8. The needle bar on a power machine only moves up and down, not side to side as on zigzag machines, enabling the machine to make a more attractive stitch and preventing deflection when the needle hits a slub in the fabric.

9. The needle hole on the throat plate on an industrial machine is small and round in- stead of large and oval as on most home sewing machines. This reduces stitching problems.

10. The handwheel rotates away from the oper- ator on some industrial machines and to- ward the operator on others. On most home sewing machines, it rotates toward the operator.

11. Onindustrialmachines,thebobbinwinderis located to the right of the machine head. On home sewing machines, the bobbin winder is on the top of the head or on the front of the machine.