Stitches

What does the phrase "A stitch in time saves nine" mean and where does it come from?

Public Comments

1. One stitch to fix a tear in a piece of cloth now, save having to put in nine, or more, stitches later. It is a sewing based saying and means taking the time to do a little preventive maintenance will prevent having to make major repairs later.
2. It means that it's better to take your time on a task, and do it carefully and thoroughly so that you don't have to go back later and fix it. If you rush through something to get it done, it will take just as much time to go back and fix it than it would have if you had done it right it in the first place. It comes from when people used to knit a lot- if you messed up on a stitch by not paying attention, you would have to undo all your other stitches to get back to that one and fix it.
3. i always thought it meant doing one stitch in the proper time will save you nine minutes of trying to fix a bad stitch? but either way the idea is the same. do it right the fist time.