I think I need a sewing machine that can do a variety of different kinds of stitches. One use case is to repair holey socks by cannabalizing fabric from other holey socks. Thus the stitch needs to be the kind that can stretch and ideally not create an awkward feeling on the foot.
Some sewing machines have a fixed number of stitches they can do. Would it make sense to get an embroidery machine and use #inkStitch (an Inkscape variant)? I’m not sure if that’s strictly for embroidery – or does that give the ability to do a variety of stitches using FOSS?
The inkstitch.org website steers people toward taking a basic sewing machine and modifying it using 3d printed parts. That’s too ambitious for me. I don’t want a hardware project. I just want to buy hardware that’s ready to go and use free software to control it. Is that possible with things that exist already?
#askFedi
You could learn to darn socks by hand. Adults and children have been doing it for thousands of years, and it’s very low impact. It’s not really feasible to patch socks with fabric from other socks - think of socks as a dynamic 3-D knit construct, patching disrupts that.
“A stitch in time saves nine.” If you know you wear out particular areas of your socks, you can reinforce them when they are new by “running” them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fKKLOUNOHU
All you need to darn or run is yarn and a darning needle.