Q 01/05

A bird-bone needle found in Denisova Cave, attributed to Denisovans, is estimated to be roughly how old?

A) 50,000 years

B) 15,000 years

C) 5,000 years

D) 150,000 years

Answer · why

A) 50,000 years

The 7 cm needle, carved from bird bone, was found in Denisova Cave in Siberia's Altai in 2016 and dated to about 50,000 years ago, making it among the...

Q 02/05

The Inuit traditionally made sewing thread from the sinew of which animal?

A) Seal

B) Caribou

C) Polar bear

D) Walrus

Answer · why

B) Caribou

Inuit seamstresses twisted caribou sinew, especially the long back sinew, into thread for fur and skin clothing, sewing it with needles carved from bo...

Q 03/05

Which English inventor produced the first sewing machine design, in 1790?

A) Walter Hunt

B) Elias Howe

C) Thomas Saint

D) Isaac Singer

Answer · why

C) Thomas Saint

Thomas Saint's 1790 British patent described a machine for leather and canvas; when William Newton Wilson built it from the drawings in 1874, it neede...

Q 04/05

After Barthelemy Thimonnier patented his sewing machine in 1830, what reportedly happened to his factory?

A) It was bought out by Singer

B) It was seized by the French crown

C) It was flooded by the Rhone

D) It was burned down by fearful workers

Answer · why

D) It was burned down by fearful workers

Tailors saw the machine as a threat to their livelihoods; Thimonnier's machines were meant to make military uniforms.

Q 05/05

Who invented the first American lockstitch sewing machine, in 1832?

A) Walter Hunt

B) Elias Howe

C) Isaac Singer

D) Allen Wilson

Answer · why

A) Walter Hunt

Walter Hunt built his lockstitch machine in 1832 but never patented it, reportedly fearing it would throw seamstresses out of work; he did patent the ...