What You ACTUALLY Need to Make Clothes in an Apocalypse

Okay, let's get straight on to business because we don't want to be like one of those recipe blog posts that go through like half a year of someone's entire life story just to like get to the actual information that people need. So you want to sew but perhaps it is the apocalypse or something and you need to know exactly what you need to know in order to sew something like fairly efficiently. If you are a regular viewer of this channel you will know that it is so entirely possible to sew entire garments with just the materials that can fit in this bag. No electricity, no machines, just you and your tools and your own two hands make entire garments. So let's explore. The first thing I should probably disclaim is that everyone's sewing kit is going to be slightly more individualistic. What you keep in your sewing bag is very much a reflection of how you as a craftsperson like to create things and like to sew. I think pretty much for any sewing purpose these four are essentials. First, of course, are needles. You will probably need a needle if you would like to, you know, engage in the practice of sewing. It does tend to really help but I have this nice little needle case that I keep all my needles in just so that they're all nice and contained. They're not floating around my sewing bag. They're not stabbing me. Within this needle case I like to have a couple of different sizes. So generally I like to carry a tapestry needle, which is a big chonky kind of blunt needle that is not really meant to do much in regards to fine sewing, but it's really helpful if, say, you are trying to lace a garment that has very small eyelet holes and you need to sort of sew yourself into that garment, as well as if you're doing thicker sort of applique work or sewtache work. Also, if you do knitting, if you work with yarn, tapestry needles are an absolute essential for that. The next needle that I will always be sure I'm carrying is a very long needle. This is good for basting because basting is a very quick, very fast, very long stitch. You want to have as much space on your needle as possible so that you can load up as many stitches as possible and go super fast. Then I will have an assortment of variously sized needles, various heights, various eyes. This is probably way more needles than you actually need in your sewing kit, but needles tend to come sized. So I believe the basting needle is around a size 4 or 6, all the way up to 10 and 12, which get very, very, very tiny. So I have a range of different sizes, longer ones that I'll use for thicker fabrics, and of course my wee tiny, I don't, I haven't quite gone down to number 12s, but I am very fond of the number 10 and I use that for most of my fine historical sewing projects. These are very tiny. They do take a bit of practice to get used to. I've been able to get most of my threads through this and especially if I'm working with just basic silks, basic wools, cottons, linens, this is all I need. I love my number 10s. The next most important thing that you will need is, of course, thread. How do you sew without thread? I always keep an assortment in my sewing bag as well as, of course, plenty of thread that I have in my sewing room for various projects, but in my sewing bag, I always have black thread and white thread. Just the absolute basics. This may vary depending on your wardrobe and what sort of sewing that you do. Because most of my clothing is black and white, it behooves me to have black and white thread. Cotton thread for me is pretty universal. I wouldn't necessarily recommend using cotton thread in modern machines because it can't, you know, always withstand the rigors of modern machinery. So, you know, take that with a grain of salt. I also usually carry a black silk, once again, because primarily a lot of what I work on is black and silk thread is really strong. So if I have a particular, like sewing on a button, for example, I would try and do that in the strongest, most heavyweight silk thread that I can because I know that's going to be super strong. I also usually carry around a linen thread just in case I'm doing a pre-19th century project. Linen thread is, for those projects, pretty much ubiquitous. Once again, this is not essential. If you are not doing historical reconstruction projects, then you might not care about linen thread. Linen thread is not to be used in machines. It is pretty much a hand sewing only thread, but it is pretty strong and I love working with it. It's very stable. It's very sort of easy to work with. I love working with linen thread. But if you do a lot of historical sewing and you work with a linen thread, you will need wax for your thread. You can use linen thread without wax, but it makes the thread much weaker, much more difficult to deal with. So I carry around a bit of beeswax for when I'm doing projects with linen thread. But that to me is an essential. To everyone else is probably like irrelevant. So it just depends. These are my staple threads, but do with that as you will. But speaking of things that are small and pocket-sized and useful in a pinch, this video has been brought to you by June's Journey, the detective-themed hidden objects mystery game, which have been kind supporters of this channel as well as my own personal mobile amusement for six entire years now. I've personally found June's Journey an excellent way to wind down at the end of a busy or stressful day, while also putting my details-putting skills to use. Skills that are of course very useful in the realm of historical garment study. If you have yet to investigate it for yourself, basically you get to play through beautifully illustrated scenes as you follow June as she journeys through her 1920s adventures. She travels all over the world as she solves mysteries and uncovers family secrets. Every chapter takes you somewhere new and gives you a whole new set of gorgeous scenes to work on. Download June's Journey for free by clicking the link in the description box below or by scanning the QR code on screen. June's Journey is available on mobile through iOS and Android devices as well as on desktop through Facebook games. See you in the 1920s, somewhere in the world. Next, of course, I always carry around a small pair of scissors. These are embroidery scissors. They're great for snipping threads, obviously, you know, as you will need to do. But in a pinch, if we're talking apocalypse, when you first buy these, these are absolutely sharp enough to cut through fabric and in a pinch you can absolutely cut out a garment with this. If the zombies are chasing you and you need to cut out a I don't know, special anti zombie robe or whatever, these will absolutely get you through that. This pair came with a little leather sheath on it, which I thought would get annoying but I actually find it very useful to have for my sewing bag. This bag, thankfully, is very strong and is very durable and it's lasted me over a decade now. But, you know, if you have a cloth sewing bag and you've got a sharp pair of scissors in your bag, then that might become slightly problematic. You might want to have a little sheath for it. I mean, if you don't have one, you can very easily make one in the very same way that you make a thimble. I am a very, very stalwart proponent of wearing a thimble. I know this is very contentious. Some people are vehemently against wearing thimbles. I personally do not comprehend this logic. Even the seemingly least painful of needles in the beginning will have worn a dent in your finger by the end of the day and you don't want that. There are a lot of misconceptions around thimbles. A lot of people are like, I've tried it. It doesn't work for me. It's too clumsy. I don't, I can't quite, like, manage my sewing with thimbles and to that I say find the thimble that works for you. There are different sizes. There are different types of thimble. We probably associate the thimble, the image of the thimble, with this, this metal thing. You know, it slides onto your finger and you just use it as you will. I personally don't like these as much as a leather thimble, but if this works for you, I know people who love these, who work with these all the time and, you know, it gets the job done and it's great. If you're working with a metal thimble, then it has to be sized correctly. If it's too loose, then it's gonna slide all over the place and it's not gonna work. It's not gonna function. It's gonna be uncomfortable. It's gonna be annoying and you're gonna hate using it. The way that you can test if a thimble fits is if you turn your finger upside down and if it stays, that's how you know you've got a good thimble. If you have a metal one and it almost fits, and you'll see this with a lot of vintage and antique thimbles, how it's slightly misshapen, you can actually squish them a bit like that with a pair of pliers or, I don't know, sit on it or something, and that way it just sort of lessens the rotundness and flattens it a bit to more easily fit your finger. Personally, I love my leather thimbles. They're super easy to make. If you have the smallest, like, off-cut scrap of leather, like, don't buy a piece of leather for this. Like, find like a two-inch square of leather and that's all you need. Great recycling. These were very kindly sent to me by a viewer of mine who runs an Etsy shop that sells leather thimbles, so I will link that down below if you want to get. I highly recommend getting one of hers. She gave these to me a few years ago, about three years ago now. I cherish them. They have lasted me through many a sewing project. A good leather thimble will last you a while. If you have long fingernails, I find these are much more accommodating, especially if you're making your own, you can sort of take that into account in the length of your thimble. The other alternative is, if you prefer hard thimbles, to get a tailor's thimble, which doesn't have a top to it. The dressmaker's thimble has a top to it because, I don't know, apparently the dressmaker's way is to push it through and use the top of the thimble to push the needle through, whereas the tailors use the side of the finger, historically. But, you know, get the thimble that works for you, that works for your particular habits of sewing, and hopefully you will find one that works. The last thing that I think is pretty essential are pins. In a pinch, I have actually used my spare needles as pins. So, like, if you forget your pins or you don't have pins, like, that's actually kind of okay. But having separate pins are fairly useful. Theoretically, you might want to find a nice little case to put your pins in. I have just got in the habit of sticking them into the lining of my sewing kit, which I don't recommend. You shouldn't do that. It makes the zipper really annoying. Don't be like me. Like, get yourself a proper pin case, but in a pinch, you can, of course, pin them into the lining of your sewing bag. So, those are things that I would consider essentials. Now, we'll get to some things that are nice to have. A tape measure for measuring things. I don't have this on the essentials because, historically, before tape measures were a thing, they would just use strips of paper to take measurements of people and just mark on the strip of paper what the circumferences and the lengths are. There's, like, no math to it. So, having a tape measure with numbers on it is very helpful. If you have access to, like, straight-edge rulers, I would recommend using those instead, just because these sorts of flexible tape measures, whether they are plastic or fiberglass or cloth or whatever, they can tend to stretch or warp out of shape. As you can see, I've had this for about 15, 20 years. This is, like, the only tape measure I've ever had. And, as you can see, she's seen some better days. She's a bit warped. I wouldn't use this for the most precise of measurements. And so, you know, this might not necessarily be exactly an inch. You also have to be wary of the little plastic or metal aglet on the end, because they tend not to start at exact zero. So, the first inch is probably not an inch. You might want to take it to another part of the tape measure and just find out. So, if you're using this for measurements, start at the two-inch and then subtract one at the end, just to get the actual most correct measurement that you can. Next on the nice-to-have is a seam ripper. I don't actually use this. I have never used this ever in my life. I know a lot of people really like to have seam rippers, because, you know, sometimes you mess up and you need to rip out a seam. Not to say that I don't mess up and I've never ripped out a seam ever in my life, but I just find it more efficient to use a tiny pair of scissors, where you can just sort of cut through all those threads. I don't find it, you know, necessary to have a whole separate tool for that. And sometimes I find these a bit precarious, because sometimes you can, as you're going, accidentally pierce the fabric with this sharp bit on the end and, you know, kind of make things worse for yourself. The only reason I have this is because it's also attached to an awl. So, theoretically, you could have two separate tools in your sewing bag. These just happen to be combined into one. But having an awl, I find, is really useful for puncturing holes. If, for example, you're working with a really strong, tough fabric that's hard to get your needle through, you can pre-punch holes like leather. If you're trying to do hand-done eyelets. So having a just a sharp awl is very... That didn't work out as well as I thought it would. So having a nice sharp awl in your tool kit is very useful. I also like to have a pair of pliers in my sewing kit, because sometimes, once again, you get a fabric that is particularly difficult to sew through, and sometimes you really do need to just pull your needle out after every stitch. It sucks working on those sorts of projects, but, you know, it's certainly much better to use a pair of pliers than to have to do that with your fingers. And in that sort of similar vein, I do carry a pair of tweezers in my sewing kit. It's not, like, absolutely essential, but, you know, sometimes you end up with those little tiny bits of thread at the end when you've sort of played chicken with your seam, as I do quite a lot. And, you know, tying off that knot can be a little bit finicky with a very short bit of thread, but I reach for these quite a bit. But, you know, once again, it's not essential. Marking tools are very helpful to have. So usually I'll have a short pencil, one that's been sharpened quite a bit, that will fit in my sewing kit, as well as a little square of tailor's chalk. This is very helpful if you're working on dark fabrics that don't quite show up graphite. So pencil is great for lighter fabrics. Tailor's chalk is great for darker fabrics. Once again, very helpful to have. And finally, I just like to keep a motley handful of safety pins just in the bottom. These always come in useful, especially if you're at an event, if you're going somewhere where wardrobe malfunctions might potentially be an issue, I like to always have a safety pin on me somewhere. So it's really great to have a variety of sizes just hanging out in the bottom of my sewing bag. So those are the essentials and nice-to-haves that you can carry with you in your sewing bag. It is, of course, nice to have a little bag that is durable and good to carry with you to contain all of this stuff. It doesn't have to be big, you know, if you have a bag that's just lying around, you can, you know, put it to good use by turning it into a sewing kit. This bag was very kindly given to me by one of my colleagues. It's made of leather. I carry it with me absolutely everywhere. It's super durable. So, you know, I've had this for over a decade and it's lasted me this long. So say you have survived the zombie apocalypse, you've made it home, you have your own sewing space, what tools are helpful to populate your sewing space to facilitate your sewing journey? I would say all of the essentials in the sewing bag still apply to this, but I would add to that, of course, my first and foremost would be a pair of good tailor's shears. It makes your cutting job so much easier, so much cleaner, makes the edges of your fabric, of course, much easier to work with because theoretically they'll be nice and clean. Make sure these are kept sharp, they are kept oiled so that you don't get squeaking and you don't get jagged edges. These are very, very helpful to have. This being said, you will absolutely not be cutting out your pattern paper with your very nice tailor's shears because paper is very rough and it dulls the blades. If you have ever seen those memes or had a sewing person yell at you for using their fabric shears, that's why. It's because it's very important to keep those blades super sharp for as long as possible. So you really want to use these for fabric and for fabric only. So having a separate pair of scissors for paper or plastic packaging, like whatever, having just another pair of scissors for boning, if you're cutting the edges of boning, is very useful. I know we talked about pins earlier, but I have this tomato pin cushion, which is very common. You'll see them all over the place in sewing supply shops and all through history, really. I've attached a little elastic band to it, which, by the way, is about 20 years old now. So it is very stretched out and it doesn't quite function as it used to, so I will have to replace this and I have not had the heart to do it. But attaching a little band to it allows you to wear it on your wrists. So if you're draping, if you're, you know, fitting a garment and you need pins in a pinch, then having this attached to your wrist. I know a lot of people have variously constructed contraptions of this. It's nice to have a little cushion for your needles. You always want to try and keep track of your needles as best as you possibly can. So having a dedicated little cushion that, oh, I have a needle, stick it right there. Just put it in its place so that it doesn't end up on your clothes, on the floor, under your pillow, in your pockets, of your nightdress. This all has happened to me. This adorable little needle holder thing was made by my assistant Heathcliff, who you've probably seen on the channel, just out of some cabbage, leftover scraps of cabbage from the Lady Sherlock project. So once again, if you need a good cabbage project, making them into a clever little needle cushion is a fantastic project. The next thing that I would get is a 18-inch clear plastic quilting ruler. But these 2-inch by 18-inch clear plastic rulers, I swear by these. I do all of my drafting with this sort of ruler. I find these especially useful for working with enlarging Janet Arnold patterns where you need that grid. I don't usually enjoy working with plastics, but having a nice flexible ruler is actually really great. So, you know, these are great. I also have a curve. This is great for drafting curved edges, but I have recently acquired this more elaborate curve, also a very useful tool because it has different degrees of curve. You can get very fine curves, you can get wider curves, you can also get this sort of very wide hip curve. There's also some little tiny circles if you need to mark eyelets or buttons or something. The last thing that's kind of nice to have, this is a flexi curve. This we use a lot in drafting because you can really bend this to your will and see exactly what that curve is and then transfer it to your paper and draft that. Having a flexi curve can be great if you don't have a French curve or you have maybe this French curve that's got too tight of a curve and you need a wider sort of hip curve. It can be a little bit less precise because you have to bend it yourself and, you know, some places may not be, you know, bent to the same degree as others. This is always going to be more precise, but to have the flexibility of the flexi curve can be very useful. I've used this in historical drafting quite a bit. And of course, you know, having an iron is essential to having really nice, clean, professional-looking garments. Of course, we have a whole separate video on ironing and the tools that you may want to have for ironing, but having good iron is, I would say, an essential. And that, I would say, is a discussion on sewing tools. Everything from essentials to nice-to-haves to things that you can have on the go to things that you might want in your sewing room. I hope this has been helpful to you. And of course, thank you to June's Journey for sponsoring this video. If you would like to check them out, please go visit the link in the description below. One thing as I was preparing for this video that I really noticed is that a lot of the things that I have in my sewing kit are things that have been given to me over the years that are really wonderful, great quality items that I've carried with me for, you know, the years that I've been doing this. This sewing bag, for example, that is my absolute lifeline. It was given to me by a colleague as an opening night gift. These amazing little container and all seam ripper tools are, I think, they're hand-carved by one of my re-enactor friends. This pair of scissors was a graduation gift from my university costume shop. They're really just thoughtful, clever things that I've kept with me for, you know, my entire career, basically. So if you are looking for good gifts to give to your sewing friends, sewing people in your lives, getting them something that's really nice, really durable, something that will last them forever. A very good pair of tailor shears will last them their entire career, and they will have you with them for the rest of their working lives. Like, it can be so magical. And it's also really great because it's like my sewing kit is full of people who have just believed in my sewing career over the years, and, you know, I just get to keep them with me at all times.