A needle drive assembly for a sewing machine includes a drive shaft rotatable about a drive shaft axis and a needle drive cam operably connected to the drive shaft and rotatable therewith. A needle drive race is slidably connected to the needle drive cam via a cam pin secured to the needle drive cam and at least partially extending through the needle drive race. A needle is assembly affixed to the needle drive race and includes a needle bar and a needle secured to the needle bar. Rotary motion of the drive shaft and needle drive cam about the drive shaft axis is translated into a needle path via the needle drive race, the needle path including a substantially vertical downstroke from a stroke peak to a stroke depth, a horizontal carry portion from the stroke depth and a curvilinear or linear upstroke from the horizontal carry portion to peak.