If you wouldn’t know a bobbin from a bobby pin, and you visit your tailor more often than your mother across town, this list is for you. When a winter coat suddenly pops a button, or the heel of a shoe yanks out the hem of a skirt, where do you turn? You just open up that old cookie tin you prudently stocked with the following:

1. Package of needles in assorted sizes.

2. Thread in basic colors like white, black, beige, red, yellow, navy. You might want to add a spool of any other color you keep in your wardrobe (light blue, pink, purple, etc.).

3. Thimble. These are little metal helmets for your ring finger—the one that does battle with the needle you push through the fabric you’re sewing. They help a lot.

4. Needle threader. If your eyesight isn’t what it used to be, your hands are less than steady, or if you must thread an impossibly small needle, you’ll be glad you have a needle threader. This flexible steel wire has a diamond-shaped opening that’s easy to thread, and collapses when you push it through the needle’s eye.

5. Sharp scissors for cutting thread. A single-edged razor blade can do the job, too, but it’s a little more dangerous to have floating around in the kit.

6. Extra buttons. All those buttons that come with new clothes belong in here. You may even want to keep them in a separate container within or near the sewing box so the right button will be easier to find when you need it.

7. Safety pins. Think of safety pins as the duct tape of the sewing world. Use them for temporary repairs when you suddenly discover a drooping hem or a missing button on your skirt. Keep a few mid-sized pins and several of the tiny gold safety pins for these and other quick fixes.

8. Mending and hemming tape. This iron-on adhesive is a godsend for needle-and-thread phobics who must occasionally apply a patch, mend a tear, or fasten a hem. With this tape you can make a quick fix with nothing more than a hot iron