THIS SEPTEMBER, Colin Meredith, a 29-year-old in Vancouver, Canada, went on a six-day camping trip with his brother. Surviving a week in the Canadian wilderness, especially with a sibling, calls for fortitude. More impressive: Meredith, a freelance clothing designer with clients like Rapha, made his tent, sleeping bag and clothes on his home sewing machine. 

Sewing, as a hobby, evokes grandmas more than campers. Indeed, many learn the basics from an older relative. At some point, though, a lot of would-be tailors discover that old-school models leave room for improvement. When he started sewing this year, Amardeep Singh, 32, got away with using just such a family machine. But when the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based UX designer tried feeding it trendy technical fabrics, it balked. “It was just freaking out. Broken needles. Chaos,” he said. Upgrading to a newer Singer machine that can handle ripstop nylon solved the issue. Bonus: It comes with an app that aids setup.