All you really need is a little plastic thing of needles ($1), some pins ($1), thread (varies but even good cotton thread isn’t that much), scissors (where you might actually consider investing a little - do not use these scissors for anything else, and consider a rotary cutter if you really get into it), and fabric.
Fabric might seem like the pricey part of the equation, but consider how much a thrift store is going to charge you for a duvet or a pile of t-shirts! I have something like 30 t-shirts I spent maybe $5 on several months ago, and I’ve been working through that pile for a while.
You can turn a t-shirt into a pillow, a reusable bag, use the scraps to patch clothing, make dolls, quilts… The bits that get to be so small to be unusable for a scrap quilt you can use to stuff things.
It takes a lot of time compared to machine sewing, but it’s an activity that can be done while watching a tv show.
If you ride a bicycle and keep getting holes in your ass, I recommend patching with webbing. Think seatbelt material.
You can buy a roll of it from Johanns. They sell it for weaving the seats of outdoor chairs.
I have this pesky hole in my ass that I haven’t been able to get rid of for years!
I had two holes down there, but at some point I decided to get another one installed. Unfortunately it was absolutely not a DIY installation. :/
Again, sew it shut with webbing. But you can use super glue in a pinch. That should keep your asshole shut
Is Johann’s the German version of Joanne’s?
do not use these scissors for anything else
- Buy scissors for sewing
- My family uses then for everything but sewing
- Someone loses them
- Repeat from step 1
Cheap 3-scissor-set from IKEA to the rescue!
With 4 of these you will only lose your beloved scissors half as much.
PLEASE BUY THE ODD SIZES FROM THE THRIFT STORES AND NOT THE SIZES I WEAR THANK YOU IN ADVANCE
PLEASE DISREGARD THE PREVIOUS POST, NORMAL SIZED PEOPLE HAVE PLENTY OF CLOTHING OPTIONS. LEAVE THE ODD SIZED CLOTHING FOR ODD SIZED PEOPLE
CAN WE PLEASE STOP YELLING, IT’S STRESSFUL
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT PEOPLE NOT BUY THAT JACKET I WANT TO BUY THEY DO NOT MAKE THEM LIKE THEY USED TO, PROBABLY ON PURPOSE
BIG JACKET CONSPIRACY STRIKES AGAIN
ok
I AM L FOR LUMPY AND SOMETIMES M FOR MANGLED OR XL FOR EXTRA LUMPY I AM FINE IF YOU BUY THE REST PLEASE AND THANK YOU
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER
Us traveling kids just use floss for thread. Works great.
Welcome home, fam.
When you have clothes that you want to keep and they get holes in them, just sew up the holes ya dingus! For your health!
Machine sewing isn’t that much more expensive, and it’s a VAST improvement over hand sewing unless you’ve got plenty of time, and lots of boredom.
Doesn’t fit in my backpack tho
unless you’ve got plenty of time, and lots of boredom
also if you like needles relentlessly stabbing your thumb.
That’s what thimbles are for, my dude.
They’re not part of a drum kit? Tho thrange!
What about repairing the knee on jeans? I have several that I’d love to repair (as I’m not normal sized, nice clothes are rare for me) but I only have a classic sewing machine.
Also space and peace of mind. Sewing machines aren’t the largest of machines, but they do require a dedicated space, and can be somewhat noisy.
Sewing machines also are much worse for patching things.
Just think through the logistics of how you would use a sewing machine to reinforce the knee of some pants or to reinforce/repair a well loved stuffy.
If you are actually Making things, a sewing machine is well worth it. But it doesn’t replace knowing a few basic hand stitches.
Just think through the logistics of how you would use a sewing machine to reinforce the knee of some pants or to reinforce/repair a well loved stuffy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO6VezZSfus
Like this – Doing knee patches, or small stuffies isn’t difficult with a proper sewing machine. You just bunch up the material to get around it.
I used to have my mom fix my clothes when they ripped and I was a kid and she used her machine to do it. The stitching was always this huge bulky seam. Now that I do it by hand it’s much more compact and almost invisible if I can get it to line up well. Not sure if it was some setting on the machine that could be changed to look better as I don’t have one but I like the outcome when I do it much better.
I was going to advocate machines, specifically the vintage Singer machines (the black, all-metal dudes). They are very simple, there’s tonnes of information online for repairing & maintaining them, and you can usually find people just trying to get rid of them. Find one that isn’t rusty and moves freely and you’ll probably just need to oil it and mess with the tension.
If space is a concern, you don’t need to keep it in the sewing table (though it’s more comfortable). Those vintage machines are simple and tough to kill.
This is a great point. I will say though that I’ve struggled to “get good” with machine sewing - enough for my occasional small projects. And OP just reminded me that I can actually step down to hand sewing if that is all I need.
My view is if I have a friend with a machine or there’s a community center or something with one I’ll absolutely use it for many projects.
But since I only sew to repair my own clothes, live somewhere fairly small, and am poor, and don’t like having lots of stuff (makes evictions more devastating), I won’t get one myself.
I’d imagine that machine sewing is quite useful in “making the thing,” but hand sewing is more fun for “doing the stitch”. And there can be some stitches on a “thing” that require hand sewing even if most of it is machine made, so it’s not a bad idea to know some different hand stitch techniques.
Counterpoint: hand-sewing reduces your impact on the environment more because you can’t impact environment that much with both hands occupied for dozens of hours. It’s like touching grass but productive.
By that logic, the best thing to do for the environment is to die - which is probably true, it’s just not a very good (or even particularly interesting) argument.
right on both counts
You can take your stuff outside and sew and touch grass at the same time.
I have made two plushies this way and I feel an extra connection to them. I look at them and think “aww cute” but also “I did that!”
https://edunham.net/2016/04/11/plushie_rustacean_pattern.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9bjNCo3dk4
That’s super cool!!
So cute!
I hand-sewed some goat legs for halloween last year with basically zero sewing knowledge, it was genuinely such a blast to figure stuff out :D Took like 2 weeks worth of evenings while watching a show but 10/10 would do again.
spoiler
Very cool.
Got any plans for this coming Halloween?
This Halloween falls on a friday, so I’ll probably just be wearing the legs to work with a normal shirt and not mention them at all. Gotta fix all the hot-glued parts until then though, they fell apart very fast last year and I haven’t fixed them yet lol
You can also use a sewing machine whilst watching TV.
Also, the fabric IS the expensive part because you start going “oh that’s a pretty fabric” and end up with a pile of fabric. Then you buy another sewing machine
Don’t forget about the serger.
And the cutting board, especially if you get the rotary cutter. And the adjustable mannequin…
I need to re-do the patches on my jacket that I applied with fabric glue and want to just sew them on, but IDK how to do the ones that are over the breast pockets because I can’t get my hand fully inside to stitch it up. I don’t want to stitch the pocket itself shut.
Edit: Curved needles. Curved. Needles! 😊 Gonna need to see if I can get one at Micheal’s since my little repair kit doesn’t have one.
Can you post a picture?
Love the patches. The pockets seem rather big, so the problem is not that you aren’t getting anything in, but that you cannot comfortably put the needle from inside to the outside? And I guess it is too thick to go in and out with the same stitch? If this would somewhat work you could consider a thimble, I recently rediscovered that little metal thing and it saved me a couple of times. Gets you through thick layers as long as your needle is stable (or you’re willing to sacrifice 4-5 needles for a project).
Are the patches decorative or functional? If they are decorative (i.e. covering up imperfections) you would only need a couple of stitches to hold them in place, right? Or try another glue? If they are functional (i.e. covering up holes and necessary for integrity) you would need a more profound stitch. In that case, would you consider ripping the seam on the side of the pocket to open it up? That would allow you to have better access. Once you’re done you’d obviously have to sew the pocket back on.
The other alternative is to find a friend with a kid that has small hands and pay them in gummi bears for their labor.
The pocket actually looks bigger on the outside; only about 1/4 of the whole square you see actually is the pocket, so yeah; I can’t comfortably get the needle back out once inside. If I could even use my sewing machine, I would have already done it. But also: I never knew that’s what thimbles were for. Now I’d have to find one that fits my fat thumb lol It would help sew the one on the pocket flap.
I was almost even just contemplating cutting the pocket out, sewing the patch on, then sewing the pocket back in place. But I don’t trust my sewing skills that much.
What you need is a curved needle: it will allow you to sew from the top without ever needing to have access to the underside. They are cheap and widely available. When you use one to sew your patch to the pocket, you can use your hand to keep the pocket expanded, or even better put something small and solid in it to keep the two layers separated while you whipstitch the patch down from the top. Watch a video on how to use curved needles for repair.
Going by name, there are two kinds of curved needles sold: upholstery and embroidery. You absolutely want the embroidery kind: the upholstery needles are huge, made for much larger projects, and would make the fine work you are trying to do very difficult. Also, if it’s there (doesn’t look like it is on your patch) you can pare down any hard coating on the underside of the patches around the edges without disturbing the patch itself, which will make it easier to get a needle through the patch when you go to put it on.
And wax your thread: pull it lightly across a candle to coat it a tiny bit, then pass it between two fingers to soften it into the thread. (There are also commercial products that you do not have, but a candle is fine in a pinch.) This keeps your thread from tangling more than it has to, and lubes it a bit for the sewing. It’s not essential, but it makes everything so much easier that I never hand sew without it.
If you get a thread that closely matches the beige of the patch it won’t matter how sloppy your stitches are, because they won’t be seen. But if you can, wash it and clean the grime off as much as possible before you do this, because it’s hard to match thread to dirty fabric. Also, when you are trying to match thread, sometimes value (light and dark) matters more than color. Because you’re sewing a lighter colored patch, if you can’t find an exact match, choose the closest one but go a shade lighter: the dark will stand out more on a lighter background. (It’s the opposite for darker materials, where you err toward the darker thread instead.)
If you have any problems or questions, feel free to hit me up. I’ve been doing my own hand and machine sewing for decades.
EDITED to add: Here’s a brief video on whipstitching a felt patch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NLr1r5ZMAM - she’s not using a curved needle, but this is the stitch you want.
A video showing how to used a curved needle for repair is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJUuPHDPTyc. He’s using an upholstery needle with pliers, you can see just how big and unwieldy that thing is, but that’s essentially how you use a curved needle to sew from the top only on pretty much any project.
Honestly, I have no clue what thimbles are for. But I realized at some point this year that instead of using some hard surface to push my needle through assy material and/or hurt my finger pressing too much, I can just… Use a metal thing that sits on the right spot.
Also I know this sounds weird but go to a shop and try them on. It’s weird how much a good fit helps.
The cutting out would probably be the way to go. I mean you could flap it, so it stays connected to the right spot, maybe it’s time for you to be brave and risk it. Especially since you have a sewing machine! That means the seam can turn out quite nice when put back in place. Anyway, good luck and updates are appreciated!
i’m just a novice, but this looks like maybe a narrow curved needle, like for darning socks and shit, might be your friend.
Iron on patches are your friend for areas like this. Curved needles as someone else suggested also work.
But because I hate my hands, I almost always just unstitch the pocket and lining, sew the patches on, and then reconstruct the pocket and lining. Probably don’t do this, I get hyper fixated on projects and do things the long way round.
These all are iron on, actually. The glue was because the adhesive that was on most of them sucked. The Trash Club patch was great; but it’s been 5 years and it’s starting to peel.
Yeah, you’re pretty out of option for an older iron on patch. Curved needles are your best bet if you’re comfortable using them. I hate using them personally, another reason I’ll unstitch and hand sew it back together. I’ve got a machine to do some of the heavy lifting, though
I patched some holes in my pants, I have zero sewing experience just kinda winged it, but to keep from sewing the two sides together I just used a piece of cardboard in between
like, undoing the liner a little bit to get your hand all up ins, or something else?
Don’t forget to pick up a tin of cookies at the dollar store when you get your kit. You get snacks and a place to store your sewing supplies that is needle-poke-proof.
I prefer a floss container. Bonus, you get floss for thread.
That’s pretty smart! Would be a good travel size. I like the nostalgia of a cookie tin but yeah, not very portable.
I was taught how to hand sew in school for an art project and it has been so useful. As a teenager I was intentionally getting damaged clothes at the thrift store for extra cheap and sewing them back up myself.
Just be careful with the thread and needles you’re not using/watching if you have a cat.
I hate sewing, but it has saved me thousands of dollars over my lifetime and I am convinced that everyone should know how to do it unless they really don’t care about money.
I’ve thought about learning to sew by hand for just this reason - to make minor repairs and save some money and create less waste. Does anyone have recommendations for a kit or which items to buy to get started?
Well, a sewing needle, needle pins, some thread and a project.
Sewing kits are okay, but usually very low quality and with a lot of junk (looking at you, mini-foldable-scissor)
You can get lucky thrifting and get huge amounts of high quality thread for no money. You probably know someone who has a lot of sewing stuff who would love to hook you up.
Otherwise, just buy what you need for the project you are doing.
Use cotton thread for cotton fabric, poly thread for synthetics. Match the thread with the fabric.
If you mainly repair stuff, buying supplies will save more than you spend pretty quickly.
Seconding someone’s advice that kits are a bit rubbish. The only things you need are needle and thread. Start with a multi pack of needles, and observe how they’re different. Different needles may differ by: the thickness of the needle; whether the tip is sharp or blunt; how large the eye of the needle is; how long the needle is. Different needles will have different roles, but it’s so easy to get bogged down in complexity, so just get an assortment and discover as you go. Part of learning is building tacit knowledge around what the right tool for the job is, so just give it a try and feel free to try other needles to see how they feel. Personal preference matters…
My main advice on hand sewing needles is to invest in high quality ones, because they’re much nicer to use and last longer. For perspective on what counts as “high quality”, my current ones that are my favourite cost me £4.20 for a pack of 6. That’s expensive compared to a supermarket multi pack, but not excessively so. These ones were particularly fancy, by my standards (Clover Black Gold), but they’re a useful benchmark as being about as fancy as you can really get. John James is another good brand. If these aren’t readily available where you are, don’t sweat it — just use this as a benchmark to see what the rough equivalent is where you are.
A pin cushion is useful for storing needles temporarily, but you don’t need to buy this. You can make one as an early project with some small swatches of fabric and some scrap paper stuffing.
I strongly recommend a thimble for anyone who is going to do significant amounts of hand sewing, because it makes it much easier to build a rhythm and sew neat and fast. It feels clunky at first, but once you practice, it makes things far quicker and easier. Unfortunately, most people’s experience of thimbles is of ill-fitting ones that probably came in some kit. You need one that fits comfortably on your middle finger without falling off or squeezing too right. A simple metal thimble will do, and they’re cheap, but it can be a faff to find the right size. The sizing is sort of standardized, and usually printed/engraved/debossed on the thimble, so you can use that to ballpark if you have some ill-fitting thimbles around. Otherwise, it’s best to go to a craft store and try poking your finger in some thimbles to find one that fits.
I don’t have good recommendations about thread. I got started using generic machine sewing thread, which you’re not meant to do, because it’s worse and harder to use. I find it hard to tell though, because by the time that I got specific hand sewing thread, I had enough skill that I had my own snobbish preferences and specific projects requirements. You don’t need a multipack of thread though, because that’ll be more likely to be crappy. Pick a colour that matches most of the stuff you wear/will be repairing (for me, it’s black). Also get some thread in a contrasting colour, because sometimes that’s useful (such as for temporary lines of stitching). You probably want some cotton thread, and also some polyester thread. In general, repair like with like: so polyester thread for synthetics, and cotton thread for cotton or other naturals. Beeswax can be nice for reducing the friction of the thread, but that’s not super necessary.
I worry that my advice may overcomplicate things, when that’s the opposite of what I want to convey. If there’s any recommendation I could give you, it’s to just get something and start. Hell, if you feel overwhelmed by how granular this is and are at risk of not diving in, then go for a kit if it helps — just don’t spend too much and know that the lesser quality will give you a worse experience. However, the most important thing is to just get started. You can upgrade your stuff or buy specifics as and when you need them, or you feel you’ve outgrown your existing tools.
You will botch repairs and need to redo them. Sometimes you will make it worse than what you started with, but that’s part of learning. However, the sooner that you start to tackle the simpler repairs, the sooner you’ll have the proficiency to be making all sorts of repairs and alterations. I give you this advice as someone who accidentally became proficient in sewing: I dove in and spent a long time being mediocre, and I still feel mediocre at it, but people regard me as being quite skilled. There’s no cheat code, but to take at crack at it.
This is terrifically detailed and actually not intimidating at all. I really appreciate your perspective on how to get started (now) and it’s helpful to have a reference for brands and quality of needles. I think these are some of the things that have been holding me back, but now I feel like I can take that first step. Thank you for taking the time to write this all up, and thanks everyone for all of your input!
I’m 33 and I have been doing minor repairs since I can remember. Sewing buttons on or holes shut. Or making tiny clothes for barbies, looked awful, but worked. There are special ways of hand stitches for different purposes, but in most cases it’s a trial and error approach that in 90% of cases won’t end in “error”. You’ll figure out what feels better (like one yarn or double yarn) very fast.
But only at age 32 I invested in a cheap seam ripper. It always seemed excessive since you can basically just use sharp little scissors for that. I was wrong. I fucking love my seam ripper and I use it as a scissor now. This is so satisfying I would never ever let anyone rip any seam open for me. That’s the orgasm of sewing.
Also, you might want to use a threading aid (edit: is it called a needle threader?). Some thread is just a bitch.
Little side note: when choosing a thread to repair, try to go muted. If you have a green piece of clothing and a light green, dark green, and grey thread, very likely the grey thread will be the least noticeable, unless the green is the same shade. If in doubt go darker. For white thread I recommend going off white - unless you have a lot of white clothes, most of white stuff is off white (i.e. not crisp paper white). Some people say 100% cotton thread breaks easier than blend or polyester. So far I haven’t had any bad experience with cotton threats though.
“Some people say 100% cotton thread breaks easier than blend or polyester. So far I haven’t had any bad experience with cotton threats though.”
Cotton thread is just objectively weaker than polyester thread, but I’ve never had that be an issue while sewing.
And in terms of the thread tearing when it’s sewn into a seam, sometimes that’s a feature, not a bug: sometimes it’s better to have the seam blow out and need to be resewn than for expensive or delicate fabric to tear. The right thread for the situation is always relative
I often do the opposite, pick a bright color that is not the color of the base material, to make the repair stand out more.
I do that too! But it depends on the repair. If I just fix a seam or a tiny hole in a shirt (you know, the ones that you need 2 stitches for) then it won’t stand out and look cool but just look out of place to me.
But I agree, in general visible mending is nicer and easier.
I’ve been repairing my own clothes and furniture for myself and my wife for years, and I haven’t so much as watched a YouTube video. When you do a bad job, just take the thread out and try again.
Needle and thread. Maybe a seam ripper. No kit required.
Are there different sizes or gauges of needles? Common colors, materials, etc. of threads?
If you’re mending you don’t need to overthink it. You really only need a thick one if you’re like trying to pierce through layers of jeans. Yes get color thread to match whatever you’re sewing. Get grey, black, white, maybe brown and that covers most things unless you really want to make it completely invisible.
There are, but if you get the little plastic thing of assorted needles you’ll be fine. Maybe $1 from Walmart.
I’d grab black cotton thread to start out with (“mercerized” is going to be the better stuff). For mending, it’s usually either about hiding your stitches so they aren’t seen at all, and it doesn’t matter, or picking something that matches what you’re fixing.
The thread that comes with kits is usually crappy polyester that will break if you look at it funny - it’s only really useful for “basting” (sewing something together temporarily to hold it in place while you do the more permanent sewing.) The other things in kits (pins, seam rippers, tiny scissors) are usually okay though.
Fixing buttons is a good project to practice on IMHO. Lots of clothes hide an extra button somewhere on a tag inside, but you can also get a nice plastic jar of mixed buttons at the dollar store usually.
Really, don’t overthink it. Even ugly stitches will hold stuff together if you put enough of them on.
I bought one of these once. Dumped them all out and wrapped in packaging tape. Its super small and a lifetime of needles. I break maybe one every other year.
Hey, that’s the one I bought a while back! It was actually an accidental purchase because I wanted dull needles for darning but now I end up using these needles over my old ones. They are quite nice, have good sizes, and there is at least one darning needle!
