[Randito]

Back in my teens and twenties, I used to sew much of my gear. Made a Cagule, rain chaps, 80 liter backpack, many stuff sacks, spray decks, gaiters, lots of other items.

[Toni]

Yes, I used to sew clothes (seems centuries ago now) for my girls until they were about 10. Took a sewing class at Renton Vocational ...ha! Mangaged to sew a dress for myself, then we all had to 'model' what we sewed...I hated that dress. Now if I need anything hemmed, it's off the cleaners....

[ree]

I got a beautiful new sewing machine with lofty ambitions of sewing stuff. Sadly, I am pretty bad at it. I enjoy it, but I am usually disappointed with how the stuff I produce looks. I think that with more practice, I'll get better. Youtube has some great how-to videos on the subject. There's a sewing machine shop in town with lots of cute old ladies working there. A couple times I just hauled my machine and project down there, and asked them to show me how to do it right. They happily obliged.

[Julia]

I never took home-ec in school like the other girls, but I taught myself to sew on an old sewing machine that had been left sitting next to a dumpster in my apartment complex. I became obsessed. Years & hundreds of miles worth of fabric later, I became a professional children's clothing designer, owned every type of sewing machine known to man, and was completely consumed with sewing and designing. I loved it, but eventually burnt out. That said, if I was fairly new & casually sewing, I wouldn't invest in a fancy machine. I wouldn't buy a new low-end Brother or Singer, either. I would find an older workhorse machine that is easy to operate & can power through canvas, etc & be used to repair heavy gear. I've had great luck with older Necchis, Singer, Pfaff, Elna & Brother machines. Just look inside the vintage machine to ensure the parts are metal. Metal=good. Plastic=bad.

[HitTheTrail]

I had been doing minor mods on stuff and wanted to graduate to making a hammock from scratch but my wife got tired of me screwing around with her good high-end machine. She finally laid the law down when I gummed it up by sewing through sticky backed Velcro. To make a long story short I now have my own machine. It's a basic Pfaff and I did make a hammock with a bunch of custom mods. It is my favorite hammocks of the five I own. But only when bugs are not out. I have not mastered sewing fine mesh yet. First I want to learn to do Cuben material.

[touron]

Five hammocks.... With that many hammocks.... ...it's amazing you have time to sew! I have always maintained that home-ec should be a required class for all high school students. Knowing how to cook some basic recipes and mend things are pretty useful life skills, that people can use through their whole lives. A safety pin in an emergency? There is nothing wrong with that if it means not having to be hitching one's pants up all night at the opera, but it is critter styling to be certain. I don't know how to sew. If I tried I'm sure I'd leave people in stitches.

[HitTheTrail]

Most shops that sell sewing machines also offer some basic instruction, either in a group or one-on-one. There may or may not be a charge for that but it likely won’t be much. They want you to sew a lot and buy stuff in their store. I was offered that option but my wife was so eager for me to leave her machine alone she gave me the short course. Warning: getting sewing lessons from your wife turns out a lot like when you try to give her ski lessons!

[Frosty]

I used to be able to sew basic straight lines on cotton material, even made a quilt. Year later I attempted to make a little dress up cape for my six year old out of slinky pink material of unknown fabric. I couldn't get the machine to sew anything like a regular stitch, got both my Dad's old Singer that he used to sew airplane fabric with, and my mothers old regular simple Singer that she outgrew, tuned up by a professional and still couldn't get either of them to sew on this fabric from hell. At this point several of my friends took pity and offered to help. It took two seconds for an expert to sew up the tiny seams for the cape. I have been suffering from post traumatic sewing machine disorder ever since... I would love to be able to sew up simple tarps etc. but not bad enough to actually do something about it. Maybe when I retire.

[sarbar]

Slinky fabrics? Easy!! There is a little known tool called the roller ball foot. I kid not. Found mine in a vintage 5 and dime store a good 20 years ago - it had been in that store since the 70's I am sure. Changed my life. I could sew silnylon, velvet, poly's, anything.

[Frosty]

Hmmm, who knew? Will keep an eye out for such a creature, maybe at a sewing machine supply store? Thanks!

[polarbear]

It is interesting that there are two sewing machine stores within a stones throw of each other in downtown Renton: Viking http://vikingrenton.com/pageLocation Sewing Machine Servcie http://www.sewingmachineservice.com/

[Davinci]

I realized I needed to learn to use a sewing machine to maintain my gear. My favorite all-round, entry-level used machine: Pfaff 230 (approx $300) Best machine I've owned: Consew 199R, ideal for light material like parachute fabrics and lines. (approx $1000) Best machine I didn't buy: Consew 206RB, ideal for cordura and heavy pack cloth. ($1250) Some folks can do well with a $100 singer.

[wolffie]

I wonder if "need" and "needle" share common etymology? I've read all of Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series of soap operas about life in the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic era*; a recurrent thread is how precious clothing was when it was all hand-made. It was a significant part of one's wealth, and whores and thieves really would steal sailors' clothes. By custom, sailors were not robbed of the clothes they were wearing when a ship was taken, so prior to capture, they'd don every stitch they had. Brass buttons and buckles were dual-use, serving as a sort of money belt. Mass production has frayed our appreciation for this, and it needles me to see our modern economy's useless, cheap, flashy, throwaway junk clothing and disposable gear sewn by de facto slaves in distant sweat shops. I made numerous Frostline kits in the late 60s, early 70s. The gaitors still work. Fabricating your own DIY gear is rewarding and fun, but few can beat the pros. Somehow, a Bernina I don't deserve wound up in our home. One stitch with that will show you what a good machine is. My favorite garment is a wool turtleneck that covers my butt, neck, and fingertips, knitted to my specs, by Mom, RIP. *start with The Goldern Ocean

[touron]

Is this an easier way to thread a needle?

[touron]

*Bump* Given the sewing interest, this might be of interest: