Vest pocket sewing kit

It has been a few years since I put together my vest article. Once of my lower pockets had a reasonably good repair kit in it. Over the past couple of years I have updated and refined this kit to this....




OK, I do admit this sewing kit is a bit overkill, but it is currenly my daily vest kit. I am a big believer in a decent repair kit.

From the top left clockwise:

Pouch, this contains this stuff plus a few other items, (moleskin, paper, diamond stone, file, ACR whistle) but mostly it is my repair kit pouch.

Linder sewing ulu in my own sheath design. There is a twist of artificial sinew and one glovers needle inside.

One piece each--26 oz Filson mackinaw wool cloth and oil treated shelter cloth, reinforcing materials.

2 Blanket pins and 4 smaller safety pins.

Tube (Pentel pencil eraser tube) of assorted needles, sailmakers and a couple of sizes of standard sewing sharps…carry plenty.

Jens Anso scalpel, a perfect seam ripper.

Clover brand deerskin and metal fingertip thimble, super efficient, comfortable, and flat. A real nice new addition.

Spyderwire, 50lb on a business card spool, knots are difficult but strength is amazing.

Black waxed nylon sewing awl thread, on a handcarved wooden "spool".

Standard spool of sewing thread Guttman, best brand I know of for standard sewing thread.

100% wool repair yarn, blunt darning needle in this card is stored in tube with other needles normally. All wool item repair and darning, vest, gloves, sox, hats.

Red plastic yarn holder with two thicknesses of waxed nylon thread, with sailmakers, glover, and standard sharp needles (small piece of leftover wool yarn).

Yellow Kevlar thread spool (normally wrapped in paper as it wants to unravel at a mere thought). Also difficult knots but strong.


Needles defined (my definations at least):

Standard sharps…the ones you steal from the sewing basket or buy from a sewing store…they are sharp. Many many sizes with various lengths and eye sizes. Great for normal fabrics.

Glovers…stout needle with triangular point that is sharp on the triangle edges…it cuts the material as pushed through, great for soft leather.

Sailmakers….stout with triangular point that is NOT sharp on the triangle edges…it spreads the material as it is pushed though, great for canvas or heavy nylon or wool.

Darning…large eye, stout needle with a blunt rounded tip. Perfect for loose weave repair (wool) or fill work (darning)


Here is an image of the little sewing ulu (as I was making the sheath for it). This tool is a major addition to this kit. Perfect for all sorts of repair work.

buttons?

Wow that is a nice kit! The Ulu and scalpel are sweet!
Your kit is very stout and well thought out.
Thanks for showing it.

Seriously! Where'd you get the ulu, and how much?

That really is a nice kit, even if it is a bit of overkill as you say.
I like that thimble design, and the Ulu too.

I don't carry it every day but I keep a sail maker's palm in my general gear along with some heavy canvas, harness and leather needles.

For those of you interested in the Linder Sewing Ulu here is a link where Schwert talks about it on another forum:
http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46749
Originally there were pictures buy I can't see any now.

I like the the repair kit. I need to work on mine.

Supposing you really want to come up with a comprehensive sewing kit that covers all the bases, you might want to add some patches of synthetic waterproof fabric/canvas and a little bit of super glue to fix your rain gear, tarp, tent etc.

LIKE the Jens Anso scalpel. His stuff is not "inexpensive" by any measure, but then again, it IS damasteel, which is what, about $18 an inch before he puts one second of work into it

Thanks all. This one is designed to repair my usual coat/vest (wool and canvas) etc so no synthetic materials are required. Extra buttons are sewn on the inside of my vest, coat and usual shirts.

Here is a surplus Norwegian kit I carry in my car. This one came with a couple of brushes and bandages, but I only put the housewife in my car kit.



And with all the junk spread out on the ditty bag with brushes and first aid stuff too.



Contents:
White, grey and olive wool for repairs.
Safety pins
Small sack of buttons.
Safety scissors just like 1st grade.
Four bobbins of thread, all US made.
A unique 5-pointed star thread holder, wound with stout button thread.



Folded paper hand-wound with olive thread.
Plastic thimble.
Scrap of twill with 6 needles, 2 large, 4 small.

The little ulu is from Maynard Linder up in Homer Alaska. He does not have a website but can be reached by mail.

Dancing Man Knives and Ulus
Maynard Linder
PO Box 2119
Homer, Alaska 99603
USA

This is his smallest sewing ulu with an artifact ivory handle. I cannot quite remember how much it cost but somewhere around $40 is my guess. Less expensive handle materials are cheaper.

I used my sewing ulus for all the construction of the small one's sheath.



My large sewing ulu, also from Linder, is actually my favorite tool for repair and project work...just too big for my vest kit.






"meriumdelerium" on ebay is his significant other...she lists his work there and you can email her to see about stock of other items.

This old article of mine has more details too...

http://outdoors.magazine.free.fr/spip.php?article265

Jeez, some of these sewing kits have more stuff in it than my entire survival kit.

My sewing kit generally consists of green Spiderwire, a few needles of various sizes, and some safety pins.

Usually, my method of repairing garments is simply do whatever you can to get it to function the way it's supposed to. Start with safety pins, if they don't work, sew it with whatever color thread you've got on hand. If I need extra fabric I'll tear up a hankie/bandanna/old t-shirt/whatever. It isn't pretty, but it works just the same I guess.

And just to bore you all here is my otter skin bag repair kit.



This kit a more traditional approach built around the large sewing ulu....bone and antler buttons and toggles, natural and artifical sinews, sealskin thimble, leather reinforcement pieces, and kangaroo lace.

'A good knife and sewing kit are the most important items for survival'- Inuit saying

"Spyderwire, 50lb on a business card spool, knots are difficult . . ."

Is there any type of 50lb fishing line where knots are not difficult?

Well WOW to the second kit too.
And here I am with about 5 needles stuffed inside a small flip top container of dental floss.
I do have heavier thread and a palm in my kit when I am backpacking, but that is in case I tear a pack strap loose or something like that.

I would post pictures but I am to lazy to post pictures.

Schwert - in regard your inclusion of a "Standard spool of sewing thread Guttman", I'm now considering adding to my emergency repair kit a spool of Gutermann Sew All Thread (273 Yards - possibly re-rolled to a 50 yard segment for my kit). I’m also considering adding a spool of Gutermann Upholstery Thread in the 300m length (re-rolled to a 50 yard segment for the kit), along with a couple sets of these heavy duty leather-canvas- carpet, etc. needles: http://www.amazon.com/Colonial-Needle-Ho...9715&sr=8-2

Any suggestions or guidance would be appreciated.

Grady

For my emergency repair kit (not my emergency fishing kit) I considering adding 50 pound fishing line. Since knotting is critical in emergency repairs, I'm inclined to go with nylon mono rather than wire line, Spider Wire braided or Kevlar.

Any suggestions in this reagard as to my emergency repair kit?

allright Schwert. I admit. I signed up here not only because I love the information, but to find out a little about the ulu.

You've got me not lurking. Please do tell. That small ulu brings a bit of things to mind, you could cut, rock it to cut cloth...

I'm not from Alaska, and the first thing I thought was 'why does he have a push knife in his sewing kit'?

Any sites any info?

You have me intrigued.

Oh and hello everyone.

Randy pretty well covers ooloos in his linked article.

Actually, the rennaissance should be credited to those 'junk

tourist' examples. I was stationed in Alaska when the Alaska

Ulu company started up. Yes, they are mass produced- and oh

yes,employ many native alaskans in Anchorage. If you want an

inexpensive introduction, by all means patronise them.

Before AUC oolos were a local secret.

A midle of the road example is www.ulumaker.com- traditional

patterns, tools steel, moose antler handles. Ooloos also make

for handy survival tools.We stamped out several at Airstation

Kodiak and taped them to the flat stock of the ithaca Survival

rifles later commercially copied as the M6.

thanks Chris! I reviewed his linked article.

What were you don'n up in Alaska? I ask because my dad was on the DEW line for a while.

This looks like a good piece of kit.

Best,

JB

Izzy,
County Comm carries it:
http://www.countycomm.com/KEVLAR.htm

Izzy, if your travels take you to Winter Park i have seen kevlar thread in Skycraft on Fairbanks at I-4. Don't remember how much it was other than it was black but if you are in the neighborhood anyway, Skycraft is a good place to waste an hour or two and at least $20.

That packet of needles looks like a good set. I really like glovers needles for any soft leather repair or reinforcement. Harness needles and an awl are perfect for harder leather.

I few meters of those threads would be great. Upholstery thread or button thread is very good to have for webbing buttons etc. The standard stuff for lighter fabrics.

I take a business card and fold it over itself (glue in the middle), cut a spool shape in it and wind on various threads. Works great.

Good on signing up....welcome.

Cutting with an ulu can employ a variety of motions. Rocking it through, pull or push all work depending on the item being cut.

For leather a rolling rocking motion works perfectly. You can follow a pattern easily and you do not stretch the leather out of shape while cutting it.

An ulu is a fine tool to have.

http://cshyde.thomasnet.com/viewitems/all-categories-threads-cords/kevlar-thread

http://www.amazon.com/Wapsi-Fly-Kevlar-Thread-Color/dp/B00030AB7Y

http://www.nextag.com/kevlar-thread/shop-html

and try also on ebay.com

Sewing Kit