The six essential items that everyone should have in a basic sewing kit (Video Transcript)

Hi, my name is Nicki Voss, and I'm the owner of Textilepop. I've put together an assortment of six different items that I believe should be part of anybody's basic sewing kit. These six things will also help you practice better sustainability by making quick repairs to your clothing so that they don't end up in the landfill.

The first item, which is kind of obvious, is going to be a really nice pair of scissors. Make sure that these scissors stay your scissors - your fabric scissors - and don't end up in your craft box. You don't want them covered in glue, so keep them aside. 

Then you're going to have a really nice assortment of sewing pins, and there's a couple of different kinds out there that you can buy. I tend to like the ones that are called dressmaker pins. Those are the slightly longer silver pins. You can also get the kind that has the little plastic colorful ball on the end. Those are very helpful if they fall on the floor and are easier to find, and trust me, that happens to everybody. 

You're also going to want a measuring tape. They come in a couple of different lengths. I use just your standard 60-inch measuring tape, which really is going to be just fine for the majority of things that you need to measure and take care of. So, 60-inch is just fine. Then you'll see that there's a number of different kinds of sewing needles out there that you could buy. The ones that I always go for are the ones that are called embroidery. The difference with these particular sewing needles is that they have a slightly bigger eye, which means that they are so much easier to thread. You don't have to spend lots of time trying to get your needle threaded, which tends to be kind of annoying after a while. So, embroidery ones. Those are the ones I go to all the time. 

I also recommend five different shades of thread. Now, of course, you can get as many different kinds of thread colors as you want, but if you have to just stick with a basic assortment, here are the colors that I go to all the time and are the ones that I tend to have to restock because I use them so often. So, obviously white. That's kind of obvious, as well as black. And then the navy. And then you're also going to have just a sort of standard beige, which is also often called ecru or oyster, but it’s basically beige. And then the last one would be gray. What’s really interesting about gray is that it's an interesting shade that as you're mending, it seems to sort of blend into a variety of different other colors. And so, you tend not to see those stitches in your repair work. Gray is a really nice one to have on hand. So those five are definitely on your list for your sewing kit. 

Then the last thing that I would recommend is safety pins. I really consider safety pins the unsung workhorse of any sewing kit. Make sure that you have more than one or two; you want to have at least a small box or a small bag of them on hand at all times. What do safety pins do? Well, they can help you hem your jeans. They can help you hold a tear together until you can get to it later. And most importantly, if you lose a button, they help keep your clothing together so that you can make it to the end of the day and fix it once you have a chance!

Anyway, those are the six things that I recommend. If you have all of these things together in a sewing kit at home, or at work or wherever you're living, then you can make those repairs and hopefully keep your clothes out of the landfill and keep using them for long and useful life and help prevent more trash.

Note: In this short clip on Youtube I explain some of the basic items that I feel are essential for a sewing kit. Naturally, there are many more items out there that you could add. Sewing kits are really specific to the user and what they are sewing and repairing. So, for example, I do not mention thimbles which are a fairly common item in premade portable sewing kits. Why? Because in all of my years of sewing I’ve rarely used a thimble, and in practice have found that they just get in the way of what I’m doing. You may feel differently about thimbles and if so, add them and anything else to your kit!