This Little Europa sewing machine was made in Coventry by Smith and Starley around the 1870s. It is a hand operated lockstitch machine. A lockstitch is a type of stitch which uses two threads to produce a strong seam.

Even as late as 1850, all sewing was done by hand. Many people went to tailors, dressmakers or seamstresses and had their clothes 'made-to-measure'. Sewing machines, however, revolutionised the clothing industry. Using a sewing machine, a worker could sew faster and produce more than doing the same work by hand. As a result, clothes became cheaper and could be manufactured on a large scale. Department stores and clothing chains emerged and began selling these ready made, more affordable clothes.

Sewing machines not only created the foundation for factory produced clothing, they also changed the way sewing was done at home. In fact, the sewing machine was the first labour saving 'consumer' good made for the domestic market. Factories could mass produce sewing machines because each machine was constructed using identical and interchangeable parts. This made the machines cheap to make and easy to repair.