Sewing Machine Operators
Operate or tend sewing machines to join, reinforce, decorate, or perform related sewing operations in the manufacture of garment or nongarment products.
104,880 people do this job in the US. $36,670 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 2%
- 0%
- 98%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 2%. Today's estimate: 2%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 26 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Examine and measure finished articles to verify conformance to standards, using rulers.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 7 min3 min to 13 min | Stays with people | |
| Repair or alter items by adding replacement parts or missing stitches.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Match cloth pieces in correct sequences prior to sewing them, and verify that dye lots and patterns match.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 7 min3 min to 13 min | Stays with people | |
| Monitor machine operation to detect problems such as defective stitching, breaks in thread, or machine malfunctions.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 4 min2 min to 13 min | Stays with people | |
| Guide garments or garment parts under machine needles and presser feet to sew parts together.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 3 min2 min to 13 min | Stays with people | |
| Place spools of thread, cord, or other materials on spindles, insert bobbins, and thread ends through machine guides and components.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 3 min2 min to 8 min | Stays with people | |
| Inspect garments, and examine repair tags and markings on garments to locate defects or damage, and mark errors as necessary.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 7 min3 min to 13 min | Stays with people | |
| Select supplies such as fasteners and thread, according to job requirements.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 4 min2 min to 13 min | Stays with people | |
| Start and operate or tend machines, such as single or double needle serging and flat-bed felling machines, to automatically join, reinforce, or decorate material or articles.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 4 min2 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Perform equipment maintenance tasks such as replacing needles, sanding rough areas of needles, or cleaning and oiling sewing machines.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 10 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Cut materials according to specifications, using blades, scissors, or electric knives.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 4 min2 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Fold or stretch edges or lengths of items while sewing to facilitate forming specified sections.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 3 min2 min to 7 min | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders6% now, 6% by 2028
- Sewers, Hand0% now, 0% by 2028
- Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials2% now, 2% by 2028
- Cutters and Trimmers, Hand5% now, 5% by 2028
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders7% now, 7% by 2028
- Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders9% now, 10% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).