Sewing Kit

Sewing Basics

Your home is not complete without a sewing kit. From the most basic to the state of the art it is always useful to have the fundamentals of a sewing kit in your home.

Basic Sewing Kit

To assemble a basic sewing takes little money, you will require;

Mixed pack of sewing needles

Polyester cotton thread in Black, white and navy blue

Small pair sewing scissors

Rudimentary kit

These few things constitute a very rudimentary sewing kit that will enable you to sew on a button, turn up a hem on a skirt or trousers or repair a seam. If you want to do anything more than minor repairs then the kit will have to be upgraded.

To upgrade your sewing accessories

Sewing items you will need

• Large pair of fabric scissors
• Thimble
• ¼” ½” elastic/Velcro/binding
• Selection of coloured thread/darning wools
• Buttons/safety pins/zips
• Pincushion/pins
• Darning mushroom
• Pinking shears
• Tape measure/tailors chalk

Hand sewing

Now with this diverse range of sewing equipment you have the ability to be very proactive in your approach to mending, darning and creating garments of your own. Ideally, of course, you should use sewing machines for your garments it is quicker and easier than sewing everything by hand, but, one step at a time. Learn to sew by hand firstly and then progress to a machine. Keep all your wonderful sewing kit in its own sewing box or sewing cabinet so that you always know where to find the things you need.

Learning to sew

My mom taught me to sew when I was a kid, she made all my dad’s shirts, beautiful tailored shirts in a wonderful variety of fabrics, textiles, brushed cottons and crisp white lawn,’ farmer boy’ checked cotton. He always looked the part, for whatever venture he was on, and it was thanks to my mom’s skills at sewing.

Sewing paper patterns

She taught me how to lay out sewing paper patterns on the fabric so as to get the most from the cloth, how to pin and baste the pieces together, how to use the sewing machine and how to finish the garment to the highest standards. She also taught me how to darn socks and put on a patch, useful skills during a depression.

Teaching your kids to sew

The first step in teaching your kids to sew is to give them thick, laminated cards with pictures on the front. The cards have holes punched around the outline of the image, kids thread strong coloured laces through all the holes as an introduction to first sewing.

Kids cross stitch kits

The next step is to use a ‘darning’ needle and teach your child to stitch onto a piece of thick paper. After that, take a piece of loosely woven Aida or canvas fabric and gradually introduce the idea of running stitches, back stitch and cross stitch until the child is familiar and comfortable with them all. Move on to cross stitch kits and then small projects like a felt purse, book mark, place mat or picture frame.

Confident sewing

When your child is confident with their sewing skills suggest a tooth fairy pillow. Take two squares of felt and sew a smaller square onto one of the pieces leaving one side open (this is the pocket for the tooth) Place the two larger squares together and sew along three sides, stuff with synthetic filling and sew open side. Decorate with sequins, beads, lace or embroidery stitches. Omit the pocket for the tooth and the cushion becomes a pin cushion as a present for teacher or Granny at Christmas.

Emergency repairs

It seems to be Murphy’s Law that you will need to sew a button on a shirt or repair your last pair of tights when you are away on a business trip or on holiday. If you are lucky you will be staying at a hotel that gives you an emergency sewing kit. The kit usually consists of two sewing needles, a few threads of various colours, a small white shirt button, a small safety pin, a needle threader and, if you’re lucky a tiny pair of scissors, everything you will need to do running repairs. Keep hold of the kit once you have it, it is always useful to keep in your handbag for the odd emergency.

As the saying goes “A stitch in time saves nine” and if you have your sewing kit you will always have the wherewithal to do a stitch or two when necessary.