Re: Mending clothes by hand

On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:09:56 -0400, Red <red@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

How hard is it to learn how to sew by hand? I want to mend some of my
work clothes without buying a sewing machine.

I've posted part of a prolonged discussion of mending at
http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/~roughsewing/RUFFTEXT/ROUGH024.TXT
(I have not yet written the rest)
and a short discussion of hand sewing at
http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/~roughsewing/RUFFTEXT/ROUGH022.TXT

A good second-hand straight-stitch machine can be pretty cheap, but
there's the matter of house room, machine-sewing also has to be
practiced, and some mends are *much* easier by hand -- re-sewing a
ripped seam through the original holes, for example.

I remember learning to sew as a prolonged struggle -- but I was
getting results right from the beginning; it's learning to do it
quickly and well that takes a lot of practice. My "embroidery gig"
students can produce a simple medallion all by themselves -- well, I
re-thread their needles a lot, and don't let them touch the hot iron
or the scissors -- in less than three hours.

Since of late I've had them for maybe half an hour -- at my next gig,
I will amuse some of the children who finish their Pinewood Derby cars
before it's time for the van to take them home -- I do the running
stitch around the edge myself to speed things up, .

My mother avoided having to re-thread my needles by tying the ends of
the thread together and letting me sew with a double thread. This
method has so many disadvantages to it that I suggest that you sew
with a loose tail from the beginning -- after all, you don't have to
chase down an adult to get your needle rethreaded. Also, USE A
THIMBLE right from the beginning. (It is very important that a
thimble fit properly:
http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/~roughsewing/RUFFTEXT/ROUGH007.TXT
(Use "find" to jump down to "thimble"))

Buy "crewel" needles, which have big eyes. I *still* use crewel
needles for everything, except when I need a needle that's longer and
thinner than comes in crewel.

It's much easier to push a finer needle through the fabric, and I'm
somewhat frustrated that crewel needles don't come any smaller than
#10, but I start my children with #8 at the finest, and the youngest
get darning needles -- a darning needle is a huge crewel needle, for
all practical purposes. Coarse needles punch big holes in the fabric,
but you can find them when you drop them.

Start by mending something coarse that won't mind a coarse needle.

Joy Beeson
--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/ -- sewing
http://n3f.home.comcast.net/ -- Writers' Exchange
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

.

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