A sewing machine device comprises a base, a platform elevated above the base, and a stitching head assembly suspended from the platform. The stitching head assembly includes a frame, a needle bar mounted for reciprocal movement, a clamp eye having an opening through which the needle passes and mounted for vertical reciprocal movement relative to the frame, and a thread take-up member mounted on the frame for relative movement towards and away from the needle eye. A stitching drive mechanism is mounted on a platform and imparts reciprocating motion to the needle bar, clamp eye, and thread take up. This mechanism includes a main shaft providing rotary drive motion and a drive head for transforming the rotary motion to reciprocating motion. A rotary sewing hook is mounted on a hook shaft journalled in the frame. A suspending bar is pivotally attached to the platform and journals the hook shaft a predetermined distance below the platform. A timing belt or other similar mechanism couples the main shaft and the hook shaft so that the latter rotates synchronously with the main shaft. A flexible drive and support mechanism, for example, a plurality of housed cables, suspends the stitching head a predetermined distance below the platform and transmits the reciprocating motion from the driving head to the needle bar, the clamp eye, and the thread take up. X and Y driving mechanisms, which can be programmed, move the stitching head, relative to the base, through a stitching pattern in two dimensions.