Back in the day we'd spend hours hand stitching seams, now it's all heat tape in five minutes.

I mean, I did a job in Springfield about 15 years ago where the seam on a big wool berber took me nearly half a day to get right. These days, with a decent heat tape machine, I can seal a seam that'll hold for years in the time it takes to brew a pot of coffee. Does anyone else miss the craft of a hand-sewn seam, or is the speed just too good to pass up?

3 comments

3 Comments

simon7171d ago

Honestly that speed is a total game changer for making a living. Spending half a day on one seam meant you could only do one or two jobs a week, and the customer's bill had to cover all that time. Now you can do a better, longer lasting fix in minutes and move on to the next thing. The old way felt like craft, sure, but it also felt like being stuck.

the_wesley12d ago

Remember when a bad seam just meant you were bad at sewing, not bad at reading instructions?

matthewkim12d ago

Yeah, totally feel that @the_wesley... I tried making a simple apron last month and the pattern had like three pages just for the pocket. Spent more time trying to figure out their weird diagrams than I did actually sewing... ended up with the waist strap on backwards.