Sewing Machine Operators

Overview

Sewing Machine Operators has a national median salary of $36,670 per year, with -15.1% projected job growth from 2025–2035. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists no formal educational credential as the typical education needed to enter this occupation.

Description

Operate or tend sewing machines to join, reinforce, decorate, or perform related sewing operations in the manufacture of garment or nongarment products.

Work Values

• Support
• Relationships
• Independence

Work Styles

Responsibilities

Tasks

• Monitor machine operation to detect problems such as defective stitching, breaks in thread, or machine malfunctions.
• Cut materials according to specifications, using blades, scissors, or electric knives.
• Place spools of thread, cord, or other materials on spindles, insert bobbins, and thread ends through machine guides and components.
• Position items under needles, using marks on machines, clamps, templates, or cloth as guides.
• Guide garments or garment parts under machine needles and presser feet to sew parts together.

Work Activities

• Handling and Moving Objects
• Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials
• Controlling Machines and Processes
• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
• Getting Information
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
• Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work
• Performing General Physical Activities
• Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
• Training and Teaching Others

Detailed Work Activities

• Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
• Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).
• Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
• Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
• Performing general physical activities includes doing activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.
• Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
• Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.

T-A-S-K

Technology, Abilities, Skills & Knowledge

Education

Education Levels of Current Workers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists no formal educational credential as the typical education needed to enter this occupation. The chart below shows the highest level of education held by people already working in this field, ages 25 and older. It includes workers who earned more education than the job requires and workers who entered the field under earlier requirements, so the largest bar is not the entry requirement. For example, if someone finished a bachelor's degree and then started working in this field, they are counted under “Bachelor's degree” here, but the job itself typically asks for no formal educational credential.

Certificates

Certifications applicable to Sewing Machine Operators:

Video Resources