I'd recommend Mettler or Gutermann 'top stiching' thread. 100% polyester. A little more expensive than the 'Dual Duty' stuff but its much stronger and good for just about any task.

I've carried a tiny sewing kit for years. When you need it, you need it, and nothing else will do.

My outdoor trip kit is dirt simple: three fine needles, two heavy-duty needles, a "holder" made of a Papermate pen and cap that I cut down to size, wrapped with a heavy-duty poly/cotton thread on the outside and held on with an elastic band. It weighs a fraction of an ounce, so it never gets left behind.

With this crude kit, I have made critical repairs to pack straps, fixed zippers on sleeping bags, tacked a nylon "slider" into the heels of a novice hiker's boot (reduces friction/blisters) and etc. The cap serves as a thimble, sort of, but I much prefer needle nose pliers or a multitool (as others have wisely noted).

I also carry a few diaper safety pins (all metal) with my kit. Amazing what you can fix and improvise with these.

BTW: Ten years later, my repairs are holding. When I sew something, dammit, it stays sewn.

The Mettler or Gutermann thread mentioned by LED sounds like good stuff.

One other thing that works well as thread, waxed dental floss. Not the newer stuff that is a thin film like Glide, but the older style that is like thread. We used to the buttons on uniform coats with it, after whcih the buttons did not come off.

I like the kit in climberstacker's first post, but it does seem pricey. You can get probably more of this stuff for less money in Walmart.

An old Inuit saying is " The knife and sewing kit are the two most important things for survival." Many sewing stores sell an inexpensive packet of various needles including curved, carpet and canvas needles.Give your needles a good rubdown with a SILICONE cloth to help preclude rusting.

I don't think you have to buy a "kit," and I would suspect the quality of the thread in a dollar store kit. I prefer to buy one spool of good quality thread, then wind a bunch of it on a sewing machine bobbin. Color won't matter. Buy a pack of various needles, then stuff them ('cept the curved one, which goes in your container loose) in an empty lead refill holder for .05 or .07 mechanical pencils. Buttons come from old clothes that you are going to throw away. Get various sizes. Add another bobbin of dental floss and a few various sized safety pins. Pack it all into an Altoids tin, or any other little container you happen to have handy...

Wow, i think im gonna go get all of these things after the holidays!! my new favorite whipping is the sailmakers, looks awsome and stays forever, i hope my scoutmaster doesn't mind!!(He likes us to do things by the book)

Thanks for all of the coments, happy holidays

JAce

I've used sail needles since 1977, like a Porsche, there is no substitute!!

They come in very small to VERY large sizes!!!!

If you're going to get thread from the store, get upholstery thread. Its much stronger then regular thread, but its almost as thin. Its good for coats and even packs.

well my uncle owns an apolstery shop, so that will be very easy to get, I can also get zippers and other odds and ends there!

I've got several sewing kits - a big one in the desk drawer, one in my homemade PSK, one in a coat pocket, and so on.

They can be a huge morale booster. After a tough day where your job sucked, you got nothing but bills in the mail, and your dinner was bland, you can at least fix a button on your shirt or a tear in your jeans and at least say that SOMETHING went right.