What Preps are you doing this week? Part 9

[Jerseyspud]

I can sew, knit and crochet

So if shtf we will have plenty of blankets

[Rusty74]

i can manage to sew buttons back on but thats about it and strangley it was my taid who taught me how to,always remember asking my mother to sew a button back on the cuff of a shirt and once i put it on had two buttons on one cuff,that day i vowed to learn how to sew buttons back on

[Arzosah]

Buttons ... I cheat. I've used strips of velcro for a baby, and for a curtain I used metal studs that you bang in with a hammer I can knit buttonholes, but I don't really have any belief that I can manage to sew buttons on

I *did* knit a batwing jumper once upon a time. I like multicoloured, but I tried to keep this one classy:

[GillyBee]

You really should try buttons. They are easy. It is just a matter of poking the needle through the hole and the fabric and going round in a loop to the next hole and fabric, pull just tight and repeat the loop 4 or 5 times until the button is secure.

Making the button look exactly the same as the others is a little harder. It means using the same button, the same thread and making sure the holes in the button are the same way round as the other buttons.

A useful trick if you have lost a button on something you love is to "steal" one from somewhere which can be left undone. For example I may use the one from the bottom or the very top or a shirt or a buttoned pocket to replace the lost one.

[Medusa]

Jerseyspud that blanket is beautiful. I cannot sew, knit or sew for toffee apart from sewing buttons on and badly done repairs. I gave my needlework teacher nightmares and disappointed my Granny and Mum who both could sew, knit and crochet. What I actually came here to say was that I have just ordered my other half a smoker for Father's Day. No doubt he will be excited and give it a go for a few weeks and then lose interest, whereas I see smoked chicken, duck and jerky in my future. He is incredibly difficult to buy for at the best of times but it might encourage him to cook a bit more.

[Yorkshire Andy]

This sewing lark is definitely a high- end skill. I am lucky that my wife is a superb seamstress. Mind you, it’s what she did for a living before the children came along. She amazes me when she fixes, alters and creates stuff! I really need to learn some basic sewing ( buttons etc) because without her , I wouldn’t know where to start.

I remember my first year at secondary school been sat in a room full or Bernina sewing machines. With the needle work teacher slowly showing / demonstrating how to load the bobbin ... Me sat there about 20 seconds into her demo.. foot to the floor on the peddle full whack filled the bobbin queue a chastising for messing about with the dangerous sewing machine....

Once everyone had filled the bobbin it was thread tye machine ..

By this point she stomped over to me began to let fly at me for not paying attention .. it was fully threaded bobbin fitted and drawn up ready to sew.

She looked at me in disgust before asking me how the hell I knew what I was doing... My mum's got the same machine ... She trained as a home economics teacher

Then she had us sewing 2 bits of rag together followed by a lass squealing as she fed her finger between the needle and footplate....


We were ushered out just before the fire service arrived

I'm no expert but could knock some wonkey curtains together or shorten some trousers if pushed

[GillyBee]

If SHTF and you can't go to the shops for new clothes easily, there will be two sorts of people. Those with mended clothes, and those with holes and rags.
Before ready to wear clothes were standard, most families had one person who acted as the family dressmaker/repairer. It is a solution I could see coming back if it gets bad.

[diamond lil]

I'm keeping very quiet here. I'm an experienced knitter but I do not sew. At all. I just buy a lot of safetypins. And I'm serious.

[mbbaltic]

Croft Mill fabrics is another really good site for fabric though not as cheap as it used to be ( what is, sigh.)

If you want to learn to fit there are two very good approaches. One is a book called Fit for Real People by Palmer and Pletsch. They also do a range of patterns and give detailed instructions on how to adjust things till they fit.
The other way is to get hold of a book by Nancy zieman Pattern Fitting with Confidence. She also has some videos on YouTube. A lot of them are about quilting so you have to dig for the fitting ones but they are excellent

Which approach to use depends on your figure AND your frame. Both of them tell you to work out your size for tops based on your chest measurement rather than your bust because that gives a better fit on the shoulders though they have different ways of arriving at that. But if you have an - ahem - “mature” figure you will have to increase the bust size (AFTER you’ve adjusted for the fact that everything has headed south compared with where the pattern company thinks it should be!). The P&P approach is to do a Full Bust Adjustment which gives more room for the girls in front. Nancy’s method gives more room all round.. I need more room all round because I am an apple shape - well actually I am an egg on legs shape! Both approaches keep the armhole from gaping which is what happens if you cut out the size based on your bust measurement but you’re actually much smaller up top.

I use cheap gingham to make a pattern I haven’t tried before, then I recycle it by making bias binding

[Arzosah]

I'm keeping very quiet here. I'm an experienced knitter but I do not sew. At all. I just buy a lot of safetypins. And I'm serious.

A couple of safety pins have been pressed into service in my house, actually