In the spring of 1890 Karl Friedrich Gegauf moved from Tägerwilen to Steckborn and in Feldbach Convent established an embroidery shop and a mechanical workshop for the production of a monogram embroidery machine, his own invention.

1892 He worked intensively on the problem of developing a machine for doing hemstitching, which at that time had to be done painstakingly by hand on countless items of laundry. He found an ingenious solution and in 1892 he was granted Swiss Patent No. 4670 for the world's first hemstitch sewing machine. This machine, and the one that he and his son improved later, were to be the main product of the Gegauf works for more than 30 years.
 
At the turn of the century, about 70 to 80 people were employed in the workshop - it had become a small factory. Karl Friedrich Gegauf was the technical director and his brother Georg looked after the commercial side. The hemstitch machines soon found a wide market and were also being exported. The term "gegaufing" came to be used for the mechanical production of hemstitching.

After the death of Karl Friedrich Gegauf in 1928 his Sons Fritz and Gustav continued to run the company, and delivered the first "fitz" machine to the artificial silk factory on 27th July, 1927. The machine proved a success, and orders for more came in.

Fritz Gegauf had been a pioneer of industry, and the present-day size and the reputation of the Bernina Sewing Machine Factory are due to him. He was an entrepreneur in the best sense of the word, showing skill and intuition in development, manufacturing, sales and finance. His guidance and leadership over the years had prepared the way for his successors, and his daughter Odette Ueltschi-Gegauf took over from him as head of the company so that the business would continue true to the family's tradition.

Odette Ueltschi-Gegauf took over as head of the company so that the business would continue true to the family's tradition.

One sees clearly only with the heart; that which is essential is invisible to the eye.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry