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And what stitches are good to learn for gear repair?

I learned in the military. Never anyone around to sew patches on, had to do it myself! I even bought a used sewing machine and learned to use it. Handy when I need a stuff sack or a specialized pouch.
For basic repair and improvising, the basic stitch should be adequate. I carry an Exped sewing kit, like a mini sewing awl. Comes with directions. It is a copy of the old Chouinard expedition sewing kit, handy items!

My folks insisted that each of us kids (male and female) learned fundamental things like sewing, cleaning, cooking, repairs and mantenance, etc. etc. First buttons, then tears, even darning a sock (a lost art!). When my Dad started swiping Mom's Singer to custom-make items for our camping vacations, I thought nothing of it - made sense. When I graduated from college, one of the gifts my folks gave me was a completely restored old-fashioned Singer - it has an electric motor, but can drop right into a treadle table for non-electric use.

Remember: sewing machines are POWER tools, guys!

Practical hand-sewing is hard to get instruction on and I am NOT an expert. Most of what folks do by hand nowadays is decorative / hobby stuff and the practical stuff is dominated by sewing machines.

A sewing awl is handy for certain repairs, but not essential. Most field repairs can be handled with fairly large needles and robust thread. A small needle-nose pliers or Wave does wonders for helping with tough fabrics. There is a confusing array of needles, and few fabric stores carry the whole gamut, but there are basics like commonly available sharps and the little blister packs of heavy and curved needles for hand repairs.

A glover's needle is handy for lots of things - I fixed a broken watch band for a team member last week with a glover's needle, a little heavy nylon thread, and a bit of heat-shrink tubing (to cover the stiches to keep from chaffing the wrist). Took just a few moments while we chatted about the next feeding cycle.

Gadgets that help thread the eye can be pretty small and simple and are worth including in the kit for those of us whose arms are getting shorter and probably need to use the kits when our brains and bodies are tired. Again, stick to larger needles and thread for a field repair kit - ugly is OK most of the time and little needles/thread break too easily and are harder to use.

Practice with remnants while you're watching the news or some other brainless activity and in pretty short order you'll know what works and doesn't work for your anticipated needs.

HTH,

Tom

From my grandmother and my mother. My mother still has the "No Tresspassing" sign in her sewing room. :P

As for what stitches... All of them.

If you are looking for a place to learn, try your library. If they don't have anything on the shelf, ask the librarian if they have any OLD home ec books around, from say the 50s or 60s. Also try used book stores.

Another way, and this seems sappy even to me even though it is valid, is a lot of communities have a quilting circle full of "little old ladies"- I'm sure if you supply your own material and ask nicely, you can learn. Or nursing homes.

It sounds so horrible saying that. Knowledge, left to be wearhoused until it disintigrates, be it people or books. Excuse me while I mourn the future.

Ors,

Glad you brought this up. I recently picked up a book at REI that helps with this and more. Titled " Don't forget the duct tape- Tips and Tricks for Repairing Outdoor Gear".

This book shows how to hand stitch for different types of repairs, plus a lot more. It is well worth the price of admission and should probably be on the shelf of any self respecting ETSer. I'll post a separate thread on this book.

Good luck, TR

In the 8th grade we took metalshop,woodshop and drafting. I still have the bronze cannon I made after the boy's dean admonished us againsn't trying to make knives and zipguns. I told the shop teacher it was a urn. I finally figured out what a zipgun was watching Westside Story in music Appreciation <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Woodshop was better, I made the naval carriage for my urn. Drafting was horrid. I was prone to drawing sea battles on my class notes and barely passed, the bore of my cannon off center, full of smudges and dire predictions from the instructor I would NEED this later in life, along with my sliderule. In 9th grade I had a choice of drafting again or the new boys home economics course. In spite of peer pressure I took home ec with the rest of the girlymen and learned to sew. It came in handy in bootcamp. Our CPO decided the cross stitched buttons were each a demerit in dress and cut every button off our uniforms. Thats 15 for the bells, 2 on the middy, 8 PCoat , 7 on the chambray work shirts and 118 for the raincoat for the sum of 108 buttons to be resewn with these pathetic dittybag kits. I had to teach my entire company basic sewing overnight while our posted guard watched for his approach. Seeing as I didn't smoke, the rationed cigarettes were not demanded in the usual bootcamp exchange medium. Instead I built up goodwill that carried me and the surviving 38 out of 100 recruits from that night through to graduation and beyond <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />