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.
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
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.
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.