My mother taught me some basic sewing skills as a child / youth, to repair small rips and tears on clothing, holes in pockets, hemming with tape and thread, sewing on buttons that had fallen off or replaced if damaged, which were sometimes necessities when clothing was more functional than fashionable. Such skills were handy to have when I was in the military, when circumstances where uniforms often enough became stressed or damaged. I chanced upon a You Tube clip which demonstrates a number of hand sewing repair techniques, which makes a simple repair a work of art: I am reminded of an anecdote about a Gulag zek who used his clothing repair skills to survive by trading them for extra food and other benefits....of concentration camp inmates who survived for some time, because their sewing skills were useful to the guards. As they say... a stitch in time....
Mend, patch and repair was the way of life when I was growing up. Mom would mend socks, patch holes in my jeans, sew on buttons. Literally anything to save having to buy new!
80 years ago mom was an expert at patching before it wore out. Old art that seems to be lost. Put patch on knee of jeans when it is very thin, but doesn't yet have a hole. Put collar patch on before it is worn thru, same with elbows, etc. Looks a lot neater as patches are uniform and no edges of holes to telegraph thru. Often times in sweaters coats, etc, patch was thin leather and actually looked good. Socks were worn "1" day and washed, any small holes were darned and if hole in toe, toe nails were trimmed short. Grand dad usually knit boot socks and mittens, for some reason a lot of store bought ones had a different colored heel area, reinforced I think, and wore a long time. I think with a combination of better material, careful washing, drying on a cloths line, and careful patching, we probably got twice the wear out of the cloths we had as kids. I have some old Dic**** work shirts made in the USA that I wear that are 20 years old and dark colored. New ones fade out in 6 months and wear out in year. Made overseas out of God knows where cotton was grown or woven. Every bug out bag needs a sewing kit. 1 inch tear now will be 3 in hole tomorrow and patch will keep cold air out. Don't neglect suture kit as holes in humans tend to create huge problems with infection and slow healing. Don't forget recycling either. I carry 22 in a bandaleer made out of old jean cloth. Fits in pack as a space filler and doesn't fall apart like a box. During WW2 the Germans dropped food, beans and dried peas, etc, to the troops in Stalingrad packed into two sacks. When the bag hit the ground, the inner bag broke, but the outer one didn't and kept the food contained. Old jean legs make good strong small sacks, same with shirt arms. Larger pieces can be used for wash cloths, dish rags, patches, quilt pieces, made into sacks, made into baby clothes, your mind is the limit. Good one Chello. Thank you. Not totally on topic, but Chell opened a real can of worms with his post on sewing kit and bugout bags. Here is an ad for a company in Finland that makes shirts out of recycled wool army blankets. Good ideas and it does get rather cool in Finland. Have seen plans for a Hudson Bay blanket coat as well. https://www.varusteleka.com/en/product/jama-blanket-shirt/35226 They also have eye and ear protection goods. Finns tend to be a little more fire arm aware. Russia for a neighbor and losing half your country does have some effects. https://www.varusteleka.com/en/group/eye-and-ear-protection/1191
There are many patterns for garments made from old woolen blankets. Most are machine sewn, but some are capable of being hand sewn without requiring the skills of a master tailor. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154592891756026 Image Credit: Beth Huntington: via ehow.com and a bonus clip for those who are leather afficionados
During the War Between the States (aka The Civil War, War of Northern Aggression, The War between the Americans and the Yankees, etc.) both the Confederate and Union Armies carried "housewives" or simple sewing kits that included needles, thread, buttons, and maybe scissors, all wrapped up in cloth suitable for patching. Most soldiers could mend their uniforms, replace buttons, or sew on new stripes and other rank insignia. I have one in my kit, and it has been used a number of times.
The Australian army issues its soldiers with, among other things, a 'housewife' sewing kit. I have a couple of them...one in khaki and the other in jungle green...same basic design, with basically the same components. Sewing kit : Private R J Barry, 6 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
Clothing is not the only thing that may require stitching for repairs...there are also specialised needles and thread for repairing upholstery, fabric bags, sails, leather, canvas, and a host of other items... At a pinch, a curved upholstery needle could be used as a suture needle, but man, that suturing is going to look ugly. Sterilise stitching needles and thread before using on human or animal flesh.
A WW2 medical Officer's field surgical kit, including suturing materials. Kits of Medical Personnel | WW2 US Medical Research Centre
Grandma use to make the best quilts. Now she just does patching on the jeans when needed. I can do basic stuff. Dont look good but is functional
Covering a bare @ss with a patch is functional good...covering it with frilly bits and bobs is aesthetically optional.
My biggest sewing issue has always been buttons. Maybe it's because I find a thousand mile jacket I like and I wear it for thirty years. Maybe it was that first reading of The Red Badge of Courage, or it might be a Marine Corps thing. I just like my buttons to be secure. I've sewn on extra buttons on my favorite jackets just to have a spare on hand. Nobody will notice a third button on your sleeve that you couldn't possibly button around your wrist, but when you lose a button anywhere else on the garment, you have a spare. I'll probably NEVER have this issue again, but the wrinkled old lady at A-1 Cleaners (see Camp Lejeune poisoned water) showed me how Marine Corps buttons had evolved... or devolved to become uniform destroyers. Early buttons were flat and when flaps appeared on cargo pockets in the first jungle camouflage uniforms it wasn't an issue for the cleaners to press the uniforms with the flaps closed. Later buttons had a raised center. When the cleaners pressed these uniforms the buttons raised center would, over time, cut a neat hole in the pocket flap. I think I wore five different versions of USMC camouflage utility uniform and all but the woodland pattern were so fragile that I had to keep four sets for inspection and the rest for daily wear. Some just rotted and split repeatedly until I looked like raggedy Anne with all the patches Mama-san put in the knees. The woodland pattern were heavier and HOT! They beat the old satine uniform, that I wore until the last day it was allowed, but they were all terrible designs. The only thing I liked about them was that they had extra useless (to me) buttons that were there as spares if needed.
Same here, and it went way beyond clothes. We even fabricated many of our own tools or almost anything we needed. My dad was highly skilled and frequently we could make something cheaper out of better materials, design and execution. Mom made as much of our clothes while growing a subsistence garden alongside berries and fruit trees. Seven kids and we all helped. We even helped build our house around us. Dad bought the house, leftover military housing for junior officers that was about to be torn down, took it apart piece bu numbered piece and stored it at his parents, while he and mom looked for property he could re-assemble it on. They and some of my older siblings lived in it as soon as it could be occupied with some of the starter furniture consisting of bench seats from wrecked cars. I came along a few years after it was completed and shortly after I could swing a hammer without hitting myself the house was expanded and included an actual garage instead of a carport. I can't tell you how much concrete, gravel and water I shoveled into the mixer dad salvaged and repaired. I got pretty good at it and could keep up with my brothers who wheelbarrowed it off. Most of the last few generations have no idea what they are capable of doing and unfortunately don't have the experience and know how when they need to do it themselves. I hope enough of us that lived through times that required independent skills make it long enough that our skills and knowledge is needed.
Please pandon my RANT! The guy in the video uses "Right..." at every pause, as he processes his next sentence. I thought "umm" and "ahhh" and "ya know..." were annoying. Even on voicemail those come in as a text on my phone. I had a "sergeant" (meritless reenlistment promotion) in flip-flops and on terminal light-duty overseas who said "whatdoyoucall" or more precicely "Whaddayacall, waddaycall" incessantly. We tied his rack to the ceiling upside down, flipped his wall locker and glued all the cigarette butts in his ash tray in place before gluing it to the ceiling when he didn't show up for field day. I thought my father was the most annoying person I ever had a conversation with. He would form complete sentences in his mind before he ever made a sound. The perfect sentences of someone raised by librarians. If you listened closely, you could hear the punctuation.. If there was ever a pause in his conversation it was silent. Absolutely silent. Like a BLACK HOLE silent. I miss you Dad. Rant off. How about a blown glass darning ball? Got beer bottles and fire?
