My Sewing Kits

[RikJohnson]

I really hope I got the method for posting pics right.

SEWING KIT
In the field things get torn or worn or seams give way or any other matter that requires repairs. A man who cannot sew, even a bit, will soon find himself naked. So I learned to sew and made myself a couple sewing kits, one more modern than the other. After all, it is unlikely that anyone in Middle Earth possessed stainless steel needles of the size commonly found in any store. And anyone who has sewn anything knows the value of a thimble.

These are my sewing kits!


The left is a suede purse that contains scissors, a modern leather needle, and an old army cloth sewing kit. I added more string, needles and other necessary gear.
But also in the brass box is my Period kit:


Those two cylinders in the upper left are needle cases. The left one is made from wood I bored out and capped, the right from a turkey-leg bone that required a specifically shaped end caps. They hold the ivory needles I made. (Strange story, I spent my entire military life learning to fight the Russians. Kostya spent his entire military life learning to fight the Americans and now, we are friends. Does that not prove that the Gods have a really warped sense of humor?) But Kostya is a wood-&-ivory carver so gave me a bunch of waste ivory which I made into needles. I have one remaining large piece that will become a leather awl. I am also making needles from left-over antlers and turkey bones.
That brown oval is a leather thimble. Wooden and antler and leather and mother-of-pearl buttons and thread complete the kit.

[RikJohnson]

Somewhere there is a thread entitled "Show me your sewing kit" but I am unable to find it now so...

I was at harbor Freight, the dollar store of tools, looking for some cheap reflective tape for my trailer and found those really neat 'chinese' scissors with short blades and large hand-grips that you see in every medieval sewing kit. So I bought a couple sets.

Today, I got bored and cut some steel wire into lengths and made a bunch of pins for my sewing kit. I'll sharpen them as soon as i make a Pannier's Bone. Also got some brass rod at Ace Hardware and will turn those into needles and maybe pins. About the only thing left to make is a seam-presser and drawstring-puller. everything else is simply adding and upgrading existing gear.
I am collecting everything I'll need for my sewing kit but the bulk is amazing!

So I am thinking of two seperate kits.
The Field kit which is needles, thread, wax, pins, the absolute necessities.
Then a larger kit that contains the sharpening bone, lucet, buttons, etc. Still lightweight but something to leave at base-camp.

[Elleth]

That is really cool! I love those needles!

... and thank heavens our nations never tried to kill each other. Starving in the woods is so much better when it's only a game.

[RikJohnson]

MAKING Pina and Needles is suprisingly easy.

For pins, I experimented at work with a multi-tool and a paper-clip.
I rolled the end of a paper-clip I straightened into a closed loop, then cut to length and practiced to find that for cloth, it works well with the loop doubling as a head and a way to hang the pins from another clip or home-made safety-pin so they dont get lost.
Last night I repeated and improved the design with some brass rod and am very happy with the result. Next batch will have decorated head-loops<g>.
True, they won't go through leather but all I am looking for is .. well to hold cloth together as i sew it. And I have enough bent straight-pins in my home sewing box to prove that the temper of these things sucks!

Needles are a bit more difficult.
So I hauled a piece of I-Beam (my anvil) into the living room with a c-clamp, steel rod and hammer and began to flatten the ends of my steel and brass wires.
I later dropped the rod and clamp and used only the hammer.
Why flatten the end? to give a place to drill a hole for the thread.
When I make ivory or bone needles, drilling through a round area is a pain. So I figured that a mild flat area would work for the steel and brass needles.

[RikJohnson]

After a few finds at the thrift stores, I decided to revamp my sewing kit.
Toss things I am not using, adapt the ones i do... modify and adapt based on use.




Clockwise, top row:
wooden buttons
thread snips. (found a box of scissors in a trift store and got a couple pairs. i made the case myself.
Chinese scissors!
small metal-backed sailors palm.
leather 'eskimo' thimble
mother-of-pearl buttons
antler and leather buttons

ivory fid and needle.
antler needles, ivory needles.
string wound around scrap leather.

bone needle case
more thread wrapped around scrap leather (I use everything, even scraps)
lucet for turning thread into string and string into cord.
wood pin case

brass & steel pins.

I find that anything more than this is too much junk so I thinned my kit a bit and dumped a lot of the junk that took up space and weight and I never used. I may dump the pearl buttons as useless.
I am debating on which scissors I will keep, the snips or scissors as both are useful.

I will probably add a steel awl I made as frankly, ivory and antler needles are too fragile for working heavy cloth or leather unless you pre-punch the needle holes. Last time I needed to sew leather, I ended up heating a steel pin in a fire to burn a hole through the leather.

[Manveruon]

Love it! I'll definitely be using this as an inspiration for my own field sewing kit.

[RikJohnson]

The bone needles I made failed becuase chicken drumsticks are too fragile. I suspect that turkey legs are equally fragile.

BUT, while camping over the weekend, my dog dragged in a thick beef bone he had found about 4" long, about 4" diameter and 3/8" thick!
I set it in the sun to dry and it seems to be thick enough for needles so now I am working out how to cut it into blanks! A hacksaw is my choice but I am thinking of dragging my band-saw out and using that.

[Straelbora]

I really hope I got the method for posting pics right.

SEWING KIT
In the field things get torn or worn or seams give way or any other matter that requires repairs. A man who cannot sew, even a bit, will soon find himself naked. So I learned to sew and made myself a couple sewing kits, one more modern than the other. After all, it is unlikely that anyone in Middle Earth possessed stainless steel needles of the size commonly found in any store. And anyone who has sewn anything knows the value of a thimble.

These are my sewing kits!


The left is a suede purse that contains scissors, a modern leather needle, and an old army cloth sewing kit. I added more string, needles and other necessary gear.
But also in the brass box is my Period kit:


Those two cylinders in the upper left are needle cases. The left one is made from wood I bored out and capped, the right from a turkey-leg bone that required a specifically shaped end caps. They hold the ivory needles I made. (Strange story, I spent my entire military life learning to fight the Russians. Kostya spent his entire military life learning to fight the Americans and now, we are friends. Does that not prove that the Gods have a really warped sense of humor?) But Kostya is a wood-&-ivory carver so gave me a bunch of waste ivory which I made into needles. I have one remaining large piece that will become a leather awl. I am also making needles from left-over antlers and turkey bones.
That brown oval is a leather thimble. Wooden and antler and leather and mother-of-pearl buttons and thread complete the kit.

Is that awl from Harbor Freight? I almost picked one up this weekend.

[RikJohnson]

>>Is that awl from Harbor Freight? I almost picked one up this weekend.

I rarely purchase from Harbor Freight. I consider that to the the dollar-store of tools so you get what you pay for.

Still, it was the only place I could find those "chinese" scissors.
Almost everything I need, I make or convert.
The ivory awl is from a scrap of Siberian fossil ivory given to me by an artist friend.
I made a steel awl from an old worn-out phillips screwdriver and a piece of wood for a handle.
Like everything, my kits change with my mood, experience and finds.

Ex: while walking the dog, I passed some thorn-mesquite trees, pulled out my dykes and cut a bunch of the thorns.
The thicker were turned into needles, the thinner will become pins as soon as I make some pine-pitch for the heads.

A barrel cactus with 'fish-hook' thorns will become an experimental fishing kit.
Nature provides. Often more immediate that do the thrift stores<g>.