John Deer’s Embroidery Legacy
(Originally published in SCHMETZ Inspired to SEW #91, July, 2021. Written by Rita Farro.) 
In June 2021, SCHMETZ Inspired to Sew, #90 focused on machine embroidery. While doing research for that issue, we interviewed John Deer. John Deer is to machine embroidery what Bill Gates is to computers. But maybe the most amazing thing is that his family has actually been in the business of machine embroidery for five generations. How is that even possible? John’s grandparents immigrated to Canada after WW II and worked at Grant Emblems in Toronto, Canada. John made a film about his family’s history in the embroidery business on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9mQiNJuVXtaVyvOcXhAWHg In the video, you’ll see footage of his grandmother, Irene Thaler, threading one of their original 1905 Schiffli embroidery machines. The Schiffli machine was a game-changer because it used a lock stitch, the same technique used by the sewing machine. By the early twentieth century, Schiffli machines had standardized to ten and fifteen yards in width and used more than 600 needles. Early Schiffli machines used a manually operated pantograph to trace a pattern and translate the location of each stitch. Later, a card reader was used to program the machine. The punch card recorded the endpoints of each stitch. The conversion of the design into a punch card was known as punching.
In June 2021, SCHMETZ Inspired to Sew, #90 focused on machine embroidery. While doing research for that issue, we interviewed John Deer. John Deer is to machine embroidery what Bill Gates is to computers. But maybe the most amazing thing is that his family has actually been in the business of machine embroidery for five generations. How is that even possible? John’s grandparents immigrated to Canada after WW II and worked at Grant Emblems in Toronto, Canada. John made a film about his family’s history in the embroidery business on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9mQiNJuVXtaVyvOcXhAWHg In the video, you’ll see footage of his grandmother, Irene Thaler, threading one of their original 1905 Schiffli embroidery machines. The Schiffli machine was a game-changer because it used a lock stitch, the same technique used by the sewing machine. By the early twentieth century, Schiffli machines had standardized to ten and fifteen yards in width and used more than 600 needles. Early Schiffli machines used a manually operated pantograph to trace a pattern and translate the location of each stitch. Later, a card reader was used to program the machine. The punch card recorded the endpoints of each stitch. The conversion of the design into a punch card was known as punching.