Abstract: There is disclosed a sewing machine suitable for sewing articles such as clothes, bedclothes and the like, and, in particular, for thick bed quilts or futon comforters. This sewing machine includes: a machine frame (10); upper and lower support bases (27), (33) connected to the machine frame for horizontal movement; upper and lower rotary members (26), (32) connected respectively to the upper and lower support bases for turning movement; a machine body (55) having an arm unit (56) and a bed unit (57), the arm unit being connected to the upper rotary member, the bed unit confronting the arm unit and being secured to the lower rotary member; a mounting mechanism (58) interconnecting the arm unit with the upper rotary member for upward and downward movement of the arm unit; and a vertical drive mechanism (59) for moving the arm unit upward and downward. The upper and lower support bases are adapted to be driven synchronously with each other along their respective guide members by an X-axis drive mechanism.

Abstract: A sewing machine has a rotatable machine head and a bobbin drive unit which is rotated in synchronism with the machine head. The machine head and a needle reciprocally movably mounted on the machine head are independently driven through coaxially disposed inner and outer shafts. The reciprocal movement of the needle is detected by a detector mounted on the machine head. When only the machine head is required to be rotated, the shaft for driving the needle is also rotated so that the needle is held in its top dead point.