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Sewing = (Gentle)manly?

My pants in-seam is usually 34 or 36. But 34 tends to be too short and 36 too long, and its very odd to find a 35 in-seam anywhere. It would cost what, $20 to have every pair of pants hemmed? I could do it with just the cost of some thread (and a few mistakes on donor pants).

Sewing can be very manly, life support troops in the USAF patch up parachutes all the time. Have any of the awesome gentleman of B&B's haberdashery ever hemmed pants?

Also, I think trying to sew my own tie would be a blast.
 
I've never hemmed pants, but when my kids get a tear in their clothes or their bedding gets worn, I pull out the sewing machine and go to town. I learned from my dad, he has a very nice antique machine that is built into its own table. He used to repair hot air balloons and build banners to put on them. He made mats for the local karate dojo and made a retractable cover for a dump truck once. He's pretty crafty, and it just proves that sewing can be manly!
 
I've always hemmed trousers, patched jeans and even sewn pleats into a few pairs of nice trousers when I lost weight so that I could still wear them. Nothing wrong at all with doing your own sewing.

Only the other day I made a rag jacket to wear when out with the morris team. That took several days sewing the strips of rag onto an old shirt!

My late uncle was a keen sewer and even keener crocheter and you wouldn't have called him effeminate. He was a long service Chief Petty Officer on submarines in the Royal Navy and was a freeman of Valetta in Malta from his service in WW2 running supplies to Malta past the German blockade.

Get sewing!

By the way, if the trousers aren't too heavy there is a product available here that is a very thin web. You cut it to length and put it between the folded over bottom of the trousers and iron it and it melts and sticks the hem together. Works really well and is washable so no problems there. Can't remember what it's called here but I've no doubt you'd find it there. Found it. It's called Wundweb. Not my spelling!

Gareth
 
Just a few weeks ago I hemmed, for the first time in my 52 years, two pair of pants. Mind you, they were pajama pants so the risk was low, but it felt good to be self sufficient in this.

I would never do this for my dress pants or work clothes, but for at home and around town stuff, I can stitch a thing together. One of the side benefits of being raised by a working mom who didn't have time to do it for me.
 
I always pay for altering. I'm sure I could attempt it but my tailor is so good and professional at what he does, and such a gentleman.

My wife does sew some, but it's just not the same. FWIW I took sewing in school, it served me well in the field.
 

Rudy Vey

Shaving baby skin and turkey necks
My mother died when I was 16, so I did quite a bit of repairs on my clothing, like shortening pant legs, or fixing small holes, sewing buttons back on and mending socks. Never saw this to be a problem for a man.
 
By the way, if the trousers aren't too heavy there is a product available here that is a very thin web. You cut it to length and put it between the folded over bottom of the trousers and iron it and it melts and sticks the hem together. Works really well and is washable so no problems there. Can't remember what it's called here but I've no doubt you'd find it there. Found it. It's called Wundweb. Not my spelling!

I have used a product called "Aleene's OK To Wash-It" (a fabric adhesive) and some spare fabric to patch my favorites jeans. 3 times now. Its an awesome quick fix.

So you guys who hem your own pants, was it hard to learn? Make many mistakes? Have you ever attempted to shorten sleeves on shirts? That seems a bit more complicated.
 
Any skill you learn with real-life applications is worthwhile. I learned to sew by repairing my hockey goalie pads as a teenager and now I'm the needle and thread person in our marriage. Don't know how to use a sewing machine, though.
 
Sure. Any skill that helps you be self sufficient is worth acquiring.

You are active duty, so I'll bet you've hand sewn some minor uniform repairs. I've been thinking I ought to get proficient with my wife's sewing machine. Hand sewing is tedious.

Go for it!
 
I've just recently altered two of my 38 sized pants to 34, all hand sewn. The result still amazes me. Like every other skill, once you get it, you wonder why you waited so long to learn it.

Here's 3 of the most inspirational videos on the subject of hand sewing to get you motivated:

The first two are on the Napoli tailoring tradition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwY8FkG3WbM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH2H1iyTt-Y
No stereotype can survive the gentlemen in these videos.

This is an ad for a Jeans maker that I can't afford and you can see quite a bit of hand sewing in their products:
 
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Sewing on active duty is a great skill. Sewing patches, Velcro, name tags and new rank onto your uniform. You save a lot of money on alterations.
 
I'm 29 and have been sewing for quite some time. Every suit I've gotten in the last 10 years, I've hemmed the pants myself... way too easy to pay somebody to do. Also, for the past few years I've been hemming all of my jeans (with the original hem which you just can't replicate). I don't even worry about inseam when I'm buying which makes it so I can get much better deals on them. Here is the link from where I learned: http://www.daciaray.com/?p=38 I've also been hemming my wife's jeans, except if they're flared or too tapered. Works best on straight leg jeans.
 
Sewing should be an essential manly skill, like ironing.
I'm not very good at the former but damn good at the latter
 
I was raised in a family that was in the upholstery business. We all learned how to sew before we started first grade.
Handy skill to have whether using a sewing machine or needle & thread.
 
Awesome! I have an old pair of jeans in my closet I may start practicing on.

I wasn't really questioning the manliness of sewing, just wanted to know how many of you guys were capable of it, turns out, quite a few!
 
There's nothing unmanly about being self sufficient. In fact, I think being able to do a lot of diverse things, like cooking, cleaning, ironing, and sewing in addition to the things typically considered manly (welding, woodworking, working on cars, hunting, fishing, cleaning game, etc) makes one the most well-rounded of gentlemen.
 
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