There is a logical sequence of machines when you are building from scratch.  You cannot do much of anything if you don't have buildings to live in and space for a workshop.  So the first generation of GVCS machines are the tractor for general dirt moving, CEB press for making building blocks, power cube as a general power source, etc.  The next group being worked on include the sawmill, and cement mixer.  So all of that allows you to put up some buildings.

Once you have workshop space, you start filling it with part making machines: Lathe, milling machine, furnace for making metal castings, torch table, etc (there are 10-15 machines in this group).  I see an industrial grade sewing machine as a possible output of those part making machines.  A light grade sewing machine, like a Singer portable, is available at low cost, so there is not much savings from trying to build your own.  One capable of doing furniture upholstery or leather, with a wider throat (distance from needle to support post) and a heavy duty motor is not as cheap.  So it might make sense trying to make your own, or find a broken one and make parts to fix it.

A loom implies a cotton or flax field and spinning machines to make the thread with which you weave.  Does community scale production make sense for this vs just buying fabric wholesale by having one person do all the fabric buying?  My own opinion is some things, like computer chips, are just way to difficult to make, and low enough cost to buy, it just does not make sense to try making your own.  Instead, just make some surplus lumber with your sawmill, sell it, and then go buy the computer parts.  I don't know where making textiles would fall in the practicality scale, but light and heavy duty sewing machines I would consider part of the toolset for any sustainable community.  They are just not the *first* tools needed.

There are a couple of pages started in the wiki about sewing and textiles.  Feel free to add your thoughts there, especially if you have any numbers on what the needs are vs cost and time savings.

marcin met up with some guys called last wear a while ago. theyre doing open source patterns.

we all wear clothes everyday so the need is obviously there.

personally i think people passionate about particular projects should definately follow that road

as one person digs into a field their new ideas interest others

at the moment most drive has been in foundational tech bc of the freedom it can bring to people but that doesnt mean anyother project is less exciting to someone

i bought a sewing machine a while back and started to get some experience, i think it would be awesome to build a machine then use it to make a shirt.

The GVCS makes more sense as a system of tools that make other tools. Once you've got tools-that-make-tools you can make all the tools that DON'T make other tools. A sewing machine doesn't make other tools the way a drill press does. Kind of like how a washing machine is great, but it doesn't make other tools.

Well, sure, it makes perfect sense to EVENTUALLY have a plan for an open source sewing machine. However, every tool that makes modern life more convenient requires the tools-that-make-tools exist first and with sufficient spare capacity to devote to convenience activities. I'm not saying it's a bad idea just that it's premature.

@DavidIAm - not at all, people are free to propose designs. But when I search for "industrial singer sewing machine" on ebay, all of them are under $1000.  A do-it-yourself machine will still take some materials and labor to build, so the question becomes "is the savings worth the effort"?  On a farm tractor the potential savings is much more because existing tractors are much more expensive.  Same for houses, they are pretty expensive, so the potential savings is big.  I have owned about a half dozen sewing machines over the years, and the most I have paid was $400, and that was a commercial shoe repair one.  The heavy duty portable I have now, which I sewed canvas tents with, was half that.  There are so many sewing machines out there already, and used ones are so cheap, I just question whether it is worth the bother to make another one.

@danielravennest I think the answer to 'is the sole monetary savings worth the person time' is a definite NO.  But I don't think we should let that stop us.  We're not doing it for monetary gain (at least I'm not).  I'm not even interested in the monetary perspective, which only seems to occlude idealism and awesomeness in the interests of capitalistic efficacy.  The ethical perspective I'm trying to take indicates to me that the designs and prototyping of the designs should be available regardless of the monetary vs. person time equation.  In a nutshell, there are more reasons to create something than money alone.

@DavidIAM - In the long run, I agree that having a robotic/automated fabricator that can spit out the parts and assemble a sewing machine, loom, and other fabric-related items would be good.  Having the CAD files open source to feed it is ideal.  But having relatively cheap machines already widely available to me means that it is not a pressing need to solve right this minute.  I'm personally more interested in getting a sawmill and solar furnace for making cement done first, because Compressed Earth blocks only take care of 15-20% of what you need for a complete building.  With a sawmill, obviously you can make all kinds of lumber, and with cement, you can do concrete for foundations, blocks, and concrete roof tiles.  Combined with CEB and straw insulation, you are now looking at more like 50-60% of a building.  You are still missing fasteners, wiring, windows, etc, but you need workshop and living space to bootstrap the rest of what you want to make.

If someone else wants to concentrate on fabric technology, that's great.  I have done my share of sewing and leather work in the past myself, and know it's important. But I feel the more pressing need is for making buildings, and machines to make machines, so that is where I will put my efforts for now.

Still seems like there should be a defined requirement for one. I don't see them getting very far without hoses and o-rings and gaskets and whatnot. Probably worth replacing "magical universal does-everything power supply" with "rubber machine" if keeping the count at 50 is important.

That wiki link about dandelions and latex is amazing, Mark.  Thanks for posting that. 

LOL I don't think you are going to get Marcin to change the GVCS-50 list at this point, even with replacements.  Don't worry about what's in the 50 and what's not.
Then I suggest we ask the community to decide the list of the next 20 GVCS machines.

But when I search for "industrial singer sewing machine" on ebay, all of them are under $1000.
I'm not sure if that's really cheap, but even if it's cheap, the question is: is it possible to easily find parts at decent prices for such a Singer machine? If not, then it's clear we need to add sewing machines to GVCS.

Yes, communities need clothes and machines related to them: looms, sewing machines, washing machines, and even dryers and ironing tools.
The question is not if those tools are cheap to buy today, but the question is if those tools are easy to repair (find parts at decent price).
And it's simply dishonest to take advantage of the poor who are exploited in order to make cheap clothes.
The question is if those poor people can start their own companies to produce clothes, so they won't have to work as slaves for rich companies who can afford to buy and repair expensive machines.
We are talking about "sustainability" and "empowering communities" here after all, so there is no need to be hypocrite.

Except that the world is currently overrun with cheap clothing.
Based on enslaving poor people in Africa, China, Indonesia and such.

No one in the world has a problem getting clothing if they want it; even if they don't want it people will throw it at them.
There are poor countries where poor people can't benefit from that. Rich people don't throw clothes at each poor individual. They are sending the clothes in big packs, and guess who gets those packages? The criminal groups connected to the government and to the charities. Those criminals will SELL the clothes to the poor in second hand clothes shops. Here in Spain we send free clothes to Africa and guess what happens? 90% of the clothes are sold BEFORE it even gets to Africa. I know it from someone who is involved directly into such charity.
Similar with the situation in Iraq - the country gets free food aid, and then the people in the Iraq govt gets that food, and then they SELL the food to the market. You have to read a bit more about the problems in this world.

So, no, communities don't need clothes or machines to make clothes.
Yes, they need them. The poor people need to buy cheap machines and parts for those machines so they can start working for themselves and to stop being slaves for western companies.
Then they can sell the clothes at lower prices on their local market. That's the paradox - in poor countries, the cheap things are more expensive locally than where they export those things. For example in Philippines 1 kg of rice is 2-3 times more expensive than 1 kg of rice in Denmark. Same with chicken meat and many other food products. And Philippines is exporting rice!
In some (or many?) poor countries, decent quality clothes are at least 2 times more expensive than the price in European Union. And the clothes they get for free are sold expensive in second hand shops.
If you get lucky one day and find clothes at decent price (equal with the price in USA), then you will see that you can wash them ONCE! Then you will have to throw them because the paint is so bad and it washes away. If you buy shoes at decent prices in poor countries, they stink or they break after 1 week. You have to pay AT LEAST 3-4 times more money than in USA in order to get something decent.
Sorry but you have no idea what you are talking about.

Textiles is an extremely efficient industry that is dominated by mass production and cheap transportation.
Based on enslaving and terrorizing people in the poor countries.

There's no room for local economies to do anything at a profit.
There is a lot of room for enslaved people to start working for themselves, instead of keep being slaves. They can make their own production facilities, sell for profit, and then they can buy clothes at decent prices, which is not the case today.

They could make their own clothing if they consciously decided to accept the inherent loss for intrinsic reasons, but that's it.
Once the poor people will not be slaves anymore they can refuse to export clothes at 10 times less the price for it. That will create space for local production facilities in the western world too.

Say you earn with your job $1000 / month and you buy a new shirt for $5.
The people in Africa who make that shirt for you are payed with $100 / month, and when they need a shirt they have to pay $10.
After wearing your shirt you send it for free back in Africa, and the poor worker there will have to buy it from a "second hand shop" (i.e.: connected criminal groups) for $3.

Welcome to planet Earth.

When I say enslaved I don't mean slaves on cotton plantations but I mean people working in factory like slaves - working many hours for extremely low wages.
They can't find jobs in factories very easy, and when they do, they are underpaid. Open source machines won't solve the corruption problem but it will help them to start easier their own production facilities.
When they change the government, another group of criminals come into power, that's how it works in democratic poor countries. The biggest help they can get is the western wold putting pressure on their politicians to change things. Those corrupt politicians will try to keep themselves into power and they will implement reforms that we are asking them to implement.

Danial: rope is a good point, long reels of good quality rope is not cheap, but it is far mechanically simpler to twist a sturdy hemp rope than to weave/knit and sew some clothes with the same thread (though it takes a lot of material). I do hope someone can open-source a reliable method for processing temperate latex though, as world rubber demand/supply is getting nasty and can only get worse as oil prices go up.
Of course there are priorities for the GVCS, but nobody was asking about adding this to the GVCS, so there's no need to worry. If you guys want to talk about necessity though, then having a car in the GVCS is plain ridiculous.