Sewing by Hand

I suppose I’m one of those people who is never really satisfied with stock anything and is forever figuring out ways to improve things or alter them slightly to be more suited to my own idiosyncratic needs. One size fits all, rarely, if ever, suits all. I’m hard pressed to think of a single pack, pouch, item of clothing, etc. that I haven’t tweaked, altered, modified, improved in some way. Rather than gripe about how I wish it was, I just make it to my liking. That and I have ideas for things that don’t exist and dream up ways to turn them into a reality.

If you look through any of the sewn goods that I’ve made, you’ll often see mention made of the fact that I sewed them by hand. 

I have a sewing machine, but it isn’t much good with multiple layers of webbing and Cordura, and zippers and seam tape, etc. It’s fine with light stuff, but it balks at my trying to force it through the sandwiches of stuff most heavy duty gear requires.

Not only that, but I spent 4 years commuting for 4 hours a day on the train. I wanted to use that time as productively as possible. Reading is great and I love it, but I ended making lots of little projects that were lap sized. Perfect for the train. 

While sewing by hand is obviously slower than doing it on a machine, it isn’t that slow either. It’s in some respects a tedious pastime, but it is also fairly meditative. And while it doesn’t look as sharp as stuff sewn on a machine,  after more than a dozen years of doing this, I’ve come to the firm conviction it is as strong, and possibly stronger than stuff sewn on a machine. (Taking apart bar tacking done by high end manufacturers on a machine comes apart easily and in seconds. Bartacking I did by hand is often difficult and takes me many minutes.) Nothing I’ve done so far has ever come undone, ripped, wore through, etc. And some of these are pouches I’ve worn on my belt for ten years.

I don’t know how often I see mention made on forums of people lamenting something that isn’t a feature on a pack or pouch. I’ve lost track of the number of people who state that they can’t sew because they don’t have a sewing machine, or that they don’t know how to sew. I don’t know how to sew either. But I sew. I really think anyone can and should alter stuff to suit their own unique needs and wants. Don’t let not having a sewing machine hold you back. If you’re not happy with something, alter it to suit you.

Sewing didn’t begin with the advent of Mr. Singer coming out with his first machine. Mankind clothed and sheltered themselves and carried their impedimenta, and harnessed their animals for millennia with bone needles and sinew. Look at some of the garments the Arctic peoples made for centuries that show a level of skill and design that is truly astonishing.

A machine is not a prerequisite for making alterations to things or making things from the ground up. It’s nice, don’t get me wrong, but it can be done without one. I would love to get a SailRite or a Juki one of these days, but until I do, I’m not about to let the lack of one hold me back from altering or making the things I want.

So how do I do it? Say you also want to mend or alter your packs and pouches, or make something that doesn’t exist.

A lot of people assume that you would need leather working gear to tackle Cordura packs and pouches. Actually needles and thread is all you really need.

For needles I have always used embroidery needles, also known as crewel needles. They tend to have a larger eye on them, making getting the thread through easier.

I used to recommend John James needles, because at one time they were of a much higher quality. But they too have moved production off to China, and quality has predictably lagged. Now I would encourage you to seek out Bohin needles, a French company, that still makes them in France. How long that will last is not my place to guess.

69 bonded nylon thread is certainly the standard, and you won’t go wrong with it. I think you may only be able to get it in fairly large quantities, like a large spool of it. I could be wrong though. I have always used Coats upholstery thread. Colour selection is somewhat limited (it’s skewed towards upholstery after all), but they have black, brown (what I use in OD stuff - look fine) grey, tan (which look very light when sewn). It’s very strong stuff, and I have never had a problem with it breaking. (Gutermanns I am not at all fond of. It has a tendency to bunch up like mad, creating a tangled birds nest of thread.)

When you thread the needle, put a knot in only one end. This way you have an out. About an arms length span is at most about all you want. Anything longer than that is really hard to manage. When you get towards the end, leave yourself about two or three inches, and then end it. Trying to work with a tiny little bit of thread is a hassle. Unless you are almost at the end, and it just requires a few more stitches, working with a tiny little sliver of thread is a pain. It’s not like thread is a fortune, so just start a new piece of thread.

As far as stitches go, I usually just do a running stitch back and forth, a few times, or a back stitch. That’s always worked for me.

On my thumb and fore and/or middle finger I wear a pair of rubber thimbles, the kind you find in office supply stores. They allow you to grip the needle and still offer a buffer between the back of the needle and your skin. I understand how metal thimbles work, but they are made for dainty ladies fingers. I’m not a dainty lady. 

For built up areas I will use some needle nose pliers (usually just my WAVE) to push the needle through.

Pins and safety pins don’t work well at all in webbing and Cordura. I have a SwingLine Heavy Duty stapler (meant for thick [160 sheets] bundles of paper). The other is a Rapid HD9 (meant for 110 sheets of paper.) I find that some of the smallest staples those things can handle work best. The really heavy duty staples tend to do too much damage to the material  and webbing. Smaller staples in a smaller stapler just wuss out when trying to go through cordura and webbing. Bigger staples in a bigger stapler chew the shit out of the webbing. But the bigger stapler has more power to force the smaller staples through. Hard to get at large areas with it but for smaller areas it works well. Bulldog clips, or binder clips also work well to hold things in place. Removing and repositioning them is also very easy.

Some small scissors are also handy. I always have my Swiss Army Knife or Leatherman WAVE on me, but also have a small Victorinox Executive in my sewing kit.

A Stewart Speedy Stitcher might also work for you. I only use it for certain applications, but it is undeniably a handy tool.

(If like me, you intend to sew in public, singe the ends of your webbing and fabric at home. Not only is the smell of burning nylon pretty obnoxious, the sight of someone lighting something with a lighter on a train is bound to arouse some fear and suspicion in todays world. Being a burly giant with tattoos and piercings, sewing what appears to be army gear, made me even more self conscious about that activity.) 

Another post that delves into this topic is My Most Days Sewing Kit.

A great resource is FM 10–16 General Fabric Repair. (Scroll all the way to the bottom and the option to download a PDF version appears.)

Here you can find an extensive list of material supplers.

http://exploriment.blogspot.ca/2013/03/diymyog-material-sources.html