Thursday, August 18, 2011

Sew it goes

Is it not one of life's little ironies that as soon as the subject of making your own canvas tool rolls comes around, the members of the Old Tools List (dedicated solely to the discussion of hand tools) all chime in with advice on one particular theme.

Viz: What you need is such-and-such a sewing machine.

Never fails to crack me up. Me, I'm as old school as you can get and use a needle and thread. It ain't pretty, but it is cheap...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Alf.

Hand tool sewing...you dedicated soul you.

So (sort of a pun) do you use the standard straight needle or one of those half circle curvy ones?

You've made me think again about trying to store my rag-tag collection of files in French Fitted trays.

Stephen Ruddock
from the now clear of snow NZ

Alf said...

Stephen, it's not as if I do it often! And I use a regular straight needle when I do, and some stitching that would give my old Home Economics tyrant apoplexy. Which is just a bonus... ;)

Anonymous said...

When stitching multiple layers of heavy canvas, the needle might prefer to enter backwards in your hand.

What about a sailmaker's palm

Sylvain
Brussels

Anonymous said...

In addition to my previous comment..
You can also use a stitching awl

search on google to see pictures.

Sylvain
Brussels

Milan Adam said...

I haven't done that much sewing because I am good friends with a seamstress who specializes in drapes and upholstery so she has helped me out on a number of occasions (with due compensation of course). Still I keep a needle and thread around the house to mend my clothes and the like. It's as much sewing as I'm willing to learn at this point.