Laundry & Housekeeping | Basic Sewing | Food Drying

Basic Sewing Requirements

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Teaching the basic sewing honor is a great way to introduce Pathfinders to the fun of sewing. Here are some ideas of things that they can make to use for camping or backpacking besides earning their honor.

Here's an outline for Teaching the Sewing Honor.

Supplies needed per person:
1yard rip stop nylon (~$5/yd)
thread
drawstring cording
50' nylon rope (to use for animal proofing food bag)

Get bright colors of ripstop nylon if available, once the fabric is cut out some of the Pathfinders may choose to exchange pieces so that they can have a variety of colors.

By using the diagram a Pathfinder would end up with a tablecloth, a food bag to animal proof their food in, and several ditty bags.  Use the stone bag to put several medium rocks in it to help when throwing the end of the 50' rope over a tree limb to pull the food bag up with.  Or you can make your own plan.

Steps to make bags:
1)  Cut out fabric
2)  Sew up sides
3)  Make casing at top of each bag
4)  Run cording through casing (make sure to heat seal the ends of the nylon cording, adults only)

To make the table cloth hem all 4-sides, then fold it into a small square, roll it and secure it with a rubber band, this makes it really compact to carry.  Some may wonder why have a tablecloth when backpacking?  I think that it sure is a lot nicer than spreading all your food out on the ground. Just remind the kids that nylon will melt and not to put hot pans on the tablecloth.

Internet links

Kids Sewing Page

Sewing.org - Kids Korner

Teaching Kids to Hand Sew

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