sewing kit / sewing basics

by Brassdropper
(BFE)

For a couple of bucks you can buy a military surplus sewing kit. They range in size and contents but the basic idea is that you have a needle and thread to be able to repair rips in your clothing and equipment. If you rip the ass out of your pack crossing a barbed wire fence for example, you'll be damn glad you had a needle and thread to fix it. Most of these kits only weigh a few ounces and wont take up much space. The one shown here does not have safety pins in it, which many kits include. A lot of these kits come with a small assortment of buttons, it may seem trivial, but its hard to walk if your pants are falling off.
Of course, like every other piece of gear you own, you need to be able to use it. Being able to attach two pieces of material together effectively is just a good basic skill to have. You don't have to be Martha Stewart, most scenarios you would encounter in an outdoors or suvival situation will be pretty easy sewing projects. Learn how to do a simple back stitch, and that should take care of anything you encounter. I attached a crappy drawing that shows the sewing instructions for a back stitch, hope it makes sense. Tie a knot in one end of the thread, and tie the other end to the needle, then follow the pattern shown in the picture. When you finish, tie off the end and run the knot down the thread so it doenst pull through, and cut the thread just above the knot.
As far as using something like this for stitching a wound, I'm no doctor, but I wouldn't recommend it, unless its an absolute last resort, the risk of infection would be pretty high. You can buy suture kits for that purpose.. which is another topic altogether I guess.