Q1.
Have you ever tried stitching? You will need a needle and thread to stitch a piece of fabric together. Can you fix a tear or sew a button? Let us learn simple stitching.
Answer
Yes — a tear and a loose button are two repairs any Class 5 student can learn to do. You need three things only: a needle, a thread of about an arm's length, and a pair of scissors.
First, get ready.
- Cut a thread about as long as your arm. Longer thread only gets tangled.
- Hold the needle up to the light. Push one end of the thread through the eye — the small hole. Wetting the end of the thread makes it stiff and easier to push through.
- Pull the thread through until a short tail hangs on one side.
- Tie a knot at the long end, so the thread cannot slip out of the cloth.
To sew a button back on:
- Find the place where the button was. There will be old thread marks there.
- Bring the needle up from the back of the cloth at that spot.
- Pass it through one hole of the button, then down through the hole opposite, and out at the back.
- Do this five or six times, through the same two holes.
- If the button has four holes, do the same for the other pair.
- Finish at the back. Make two small stitches on top of each other and pull the needle through the loop to knot it. Cut the thread.
To fix a small tear:
- Turn the cloth inside out and lay it flat.
- Bring the two torn edges together so they just touch. Do not stretch them.
- Start about 1 cm before the tear begins and make small running stitches along the join.
- Go past the end of the tear by 1 cm as well, so the last stitch is on strong cloth.
- Knot the thread at the back and cut it. Turn the cloth right side out.
Why the extra centimetre matters: If you stitch only where the cloth is already torn, the very edge of the tear takes the whole pull and it will open again. Starting on strong cloth spreads the pull over a wider area. That is why a tailor always begins and ends a repair beyond the damage.
Safety first — the book's own warning: a needle is sharp. Never play with it, never put it in your mouth, never leave it lying on a chair or on the floor. Push it into a small piece of cloth or a cork when you are not using it, and count your needles at the end. Do this activity with a teacher or an elder watching.