The original sewing machines produced by the Singer Manufacturing Company were intended for industrial use and were large and very heavy. They were designed to be set upon the packing cases in which they were transported. These cases contained the treadle and each had a poster advertising the machine pasted to the outside. Sewing machines revolutionised the clothing industry as previously all sewing was done by hand. As well as making it possible to mass produce clothing more cheaply, it also made work easier for women who had previously made and repaired all clothes by hand.

In 1856 Singer introduced the ‘Turtle Back’ - their first sewing machine for domestic use. This machine was a lot smaller and lighter than the industrial machines and was set upon a decorative cast iron treadle table. The ‘New Family’ sewing Machine (later known as the model 12/12K) was first introduced to the market in 1865 and was produced by the company into the early twentieth century. The machine was incredibly successful selling more than four million machines worldwide by 1882. The introduction of the hire purchase scheme by Clark in 1856 meant that it was not only the wealthy who could afford to buy a Singer sewing machine, as the scheme made it possible to spread the cost over several instalments.

In the late 1850s, after the introduction of their sewing machines for home use, the Singer company began to sell furniture for their machines. In order to reduce costs and simplify production the company began experimenting with built-up (plywood) veneer furniture and began to develop their own specialist equipment to mass produce it. The covers of their portable cases were made (mainly) of moulded 3-ply plywood and were possibly the most long-lived of all plywood designs until the twenty-first century (they were manufactured from 1884 to about 1950).