A sewing machine housing includes a base to hold the machine's drive mechanism and a covering mounted on the base. To effect an easy alteration of the outer shape, the covering comprises a plurality of individual covering pieces with edge contours aligned with one another, the individual covering pieces being detachably connected to the base or to one another. In order to adapt to differently designed operating means in a given area of the base to be covered, a plurality of individual covering pieces are provided for that area with a plurality of different shapes with essentially the same edge contours and edge design.