Seamstress ...

[Thomas Koehle]

When i got into the hobby of reenactment (dropped it meanwhile) i simply didn't had the money to get jackets 'n stuff to the seamstress for every single patch

This and the fact you once in a while need to swap patches if started to practice sewing

Well and today i actually use it - if times get hot - to come down a bit and go my way stitch by stitch around a patch to calm myself

As for leather-jackets i preffer the seamstress but most fabric jackets i still sew patches by myself

The 2 latest "works" ...

37J1 from 5*

M421A

 

[Spitfireace]

I always sew by hand Thomas.

 

[Spitfireace]

I even got into embroidery. Which is a cool time consuming thing.

 

[Spitfireace]

I don't trust most seamstresses. I might even get my own sewing machine. I used to do it back when my mom bought an old sewing machine. Kind of went by the wayside.

 

[Pa12]

My grade 3 teacher took it upon herself to teach her whole class how to sew(by hand). Wasn’t part of the curriculum. We each had to make a teapot cozy for our mums. I’ve done all my own minor repairs ever since. She also taught us how to make a salad

 

[bseal]

3rd Grade Teachers rule!

 

[Thomas Koehle]

I always sew by hand Thomas.

Yeah I mostly …

Patches handsewn on a leather jacket just don’t look right for me - I like even stitches on my leather jackets

Sure not every flight personnel had a sewing machine available but anyway

 

[Thomas Koehle]

I even got into embroidery. Which is a cool time consuming thing.View attachment 130701

Looks nice!

 

[Dumpster D]

Bettern' my stitch work any day!

 

[Pa12]

Yeah I mostly …

Patches handsewn on a leather jacket just don’t look right for me - I like even stitches on my leather jackets

Sure not every flight personnel had a sewing machine available but anyway

Unless based close to a town, I would bet a lot of them were sewn on exactly as you have. Either by the owner or a member of the crew. Mechanics would have been a good go to. There was still lots of fabric work on the aircraft at the time.

 

[Spitfireace]

My grade 3 teacher took it upon herself to teach her whole class how to sew(by hand). Wasn’t part of the curriculum. We each had to make a teapot cozy for our mums. I’ve done all my own minor repairs ever since. She also taught us how to make a salad

At the time you thought it was .... but now. My granny taught me to thread a needle.

 

[Spitfireace]

My grade 3 teacher took it upon herself to teach her whole class how to sew(by hand). Wasn’t part of the curriculum. We each had to make a teapot cozy for our mums. I’ve done all my own minor repairs ever since. She also taught us how to make a salad

Yum.. .salad.

 

[Spitfireace]

Yeah I mostly …

Patches handsewn on a leather jacket just don’t look right for me - I like even stitches on my leather jackets

Sure not every flight personnel had a sewing machine available but anyway

A lot in ww2 was sewn by hand. The early patches were hand sewn. By wives and girlfriends back home. That's why they don't exactly match in color, or size.

 

[Spitfireace]

Yeah I mostly …

Patches handsewn on a leather jacket just don’t look right for me - I like even stitches on my leather jackets

Sure not every flight personnel had a sewing machine available but anyway

If you have someone you trust to do it properly. Usually I tell someone to put it there, and they put it here. Then I just have to say ok well that is where it is. I didn't want it there.

 

[Spitfireace]

There is a way to make even stitches on leather like it was done by machine, but it was by hand. It was discussed here. It's like a wheel that can poke holes in leather.

 

[Micawber]

Nice work Thomas!

 

[Micawber]

There is a way to make even stitches on leather like it was done by machine, but it was by hand. It was discussed here. It's like a wheel that can poke holes in leather.

Yep, wheel that has pins set in it at regular spacing to mark where the needle should pass through the piece you are working on. another version look a bit like forks for marking out stitch holes in straight lines. Other items are a sewing awl which enables two threads to be worked at once - all that for hand sewing.
at all wrong with hand sewing as many patches were applied that way.
I have industrial sewing machines, but these are not like domestic machines that can do a variety of stitches in relatively lightweight materials [we have those too], each machine will produce a certain stitch only but that can be varied in length and tension in heavy materials, leather, canvas etc. All electric.
Trouble is now my fingers have been affected by chemo so are partially numb / tingly which makes satisfactorily manipulating the work a bit of an effort.
One of the favourites here is an old manual Singer 29k* "patcher" that can still be found in old style shoe & boot cobblers.

*Illustration off the net

 

[Thomas Koehle]

If you have someone you trust to do it properly. Usually I tell someone to put it there, and they put it here. Then I just have to say ok well that is where it is. I didn't want it there.

I always use seamstress’s chalk to mark the exact position - so far it worked pretty fine …

 

[Spitfireace]

Yep, wheel that has pins set in it at regular spacing to mark where the needle should pass through the piece you are working on. another version look a bit like forks for marking out stitch holes in straight lines. Other items are a sewing awl which enables two threads to be worked at once - all that for hand sewing.
at all wrong with hand sewing as many patches were applied that way.
I have industrial sewing machines, but these are not like domestic machines that can do a variety of stitches in relatively lightweight materials [we have those too], each machine will produce a certain stitch only but that can be varied in length and tension in heavy materials, leather, canvas etc. All electric.
Trouble is now my fingers have been affected by chemo so are partially numb / tingly which makes satisfactorily manipulating the work a bit of an effort.
One of the favourites here is an old manual Singer 29k* "patcher" that can still be found in old style shoe & boot cobblers.

*Illustration off the net


View attachment 130759

That is great information Steve. Singer is the name to get in all sewing machines really. Maybe like the "Ford" of sewing machines.

 

[Spitfireace]

If you like Ford. If you a Chevy guy then maybe we not firing on all cylinders.