Ever tempted to use an office stapler to mend clothing? I'd like to have a tool that staples a single sewn stitch: like a stapler, but with thread (of your color choice, of course) instead of a metal staple. It's such a hassle to get out all your sewing supplies, especially when you have a small seam rip and just need three stitches, or in an emergency. Handiness for the lazy (or for those of us who took mechanical drawing instead of home economics in high school).
-- quacksalve, Jun 05 2002

(?) Multiple stitch endoscopic sewing machine http://www.ucl.ac.u...sters/feng/feng.htm
About 2/3 of the way down the page -- only working as a prototype [reensure, Jun 05 2002]

(?) osborn's link http://www.patented...20iron/moldacot.htm
Damn you, use the link button! [yamahito, Jun 06 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

(?) for ¯blissmiss http://www.mayo.edu.../news/news_259.html
Re: "Paper cut from hell". Your correct description of the wounds after a coronary artery bypass are obviously to be avoided. Newer procedures require less extensive cutting. Glue is used to seal skin wounds. [marked-for-expiry] [reensure, Jun 06 2002]

(?) Singer Handy Stitch http://www.discount...n=&aitem=8&mitem=22
Not quite as small as a stapler. [half, Jun 06 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

bakeable possibly. I can visualise this. croissant
-- po, Jun 05 2002


shining brilliance in the darkness..
-- yamahito, Jun 05 2002


I have a hollow-needled tool that pushes one end of a plastic "rivet" (in clear, black or brown) through cloth though it's best for fastening buttons.
-- FarmerJohn, Jun 05 2002


Patent it today.
-- drew, Jun 05 2002


wonderfully simple, I echo drew's statement, and hurl a croissant in your direction (hope you're a good catch).
-- kaz, Jun 05 2002


thanks very much, kaz, and others -- this is my first submission. I was half-hoping it was baked. Staples rust in the laundry. I have not fully worked out the device but might just have to do so!
-- quacksalve, Jun 05 2002


how kind ... thanks bliss. Elmers and Scotch (both kinds) are good recommendations. I also can do creative things with safety pins, although they almost deflated me once. ouch!
-- quacksalve, Jun 06 2002


Hm. Seems to me that, by virtue of the way stitches need to be created, it would not be possible to 'staple' one. That is, you couldn't create both ends of the stitch simultaneously because of the way the threads have to loop around each other. So what you want to create then is essentially a sewing machine that sews just one stitch.

At least you couldn't do this using conventional sewing machine stitch methods. You might be able to create a proprietary method for looping both sides of the stitch at once, but it's not obvious to me how that would work. It's a good idea but I can't croissant this until you can be a little more clear on how it would work.
-- waugsqueke, Jun 06 2002


If you had two helical needles, which rotated next to each other in opposite directions on the same plane through the material, they could somehow catch each others threads and pull them back through the material to create a stitch. This could be done using a stapler type device.

I can picture this in my head - I'm not sure if I've described it well enough though.
-- stupop, Jun 06 2002


I take my scotch rolled, not stirred.
-- beauxeault, Jun 06 2002


I see reensure has added a link with "endoscopic" in the title. While reading this idea I was thinking about the benifits this could have in surgery. Don't know how much I would like to have my skin "stapled" but, if it increases the healing time, so be it. The last and only surgery I've had is a vasectomy, just can't imagine someone stapling THAT.
-- barnzenen, Jun 06 2002


I cut my head open a couple of years ago (one tequila two tequila three tequila, floor), and they glued me up with a glue-gun. So much for medical haberdashery...
-- yamahito, Jun 06 2002


Baked in 1885 : http://www.patented-antiques.com/Backpages/Sew%20Bkpg/cast%20iron/moldacot.htm
-- Osborn, Jun 06 2002


i've put his link up for 'im.
-- yamahito, Jun 06 2002


Nonono, I know they use staples. Wife was stapled up after C-section, so was several of our friends and family. I think even my mother was stapled up with one of her C-sections too, will have to ask her though. I was just commenting on that ... how should I say ... area. It's not like stapling an arm or leg, it's like stapling "yourself."

BTW, a bottle of scotch was used in this healing process.
-- barnzenen, Jun 06 2002


just one?
-- yamahito, Jun 06 2002


Link. Not exactly the same but would get the job done.
-- half, Jun 06 2002


Excellent link, ¯half. I did a quick search for a similar machine the other day without luck. The one you linked to is not what I had in mind; but, what mind is mine?
-- reensure, Jun 06 2002


Yama, you talking about the stitch or the bottle? I would rather have a bottle in front of me then a frontal lobatomy (sp, please)
-- barnzenen, Jun 06 2002


I know, it sounds strange, but I'm still convinced it can be done. A conventional sewing machine puts the needle through the fabric and then back again -- it just does it multiple times. Maybe it would be a big stapler. I like that Singer quick-sew thing ... it's still way too much effort for me though. Plus my husband might try to get me to hem his pants with it.

[bliss]Yes, in the pleasantly curvy sense, of course!
-- quacksalve, Jun 06 2002



random, halfbakery