Sticky tape on parachutes
In the days when the dinosaurs roamed the earth (or maybe a little later than that) I was involved in skydiving, and went to England to see what all the noise was about.
Nylon parachute canopies were sometimes damaged during opening by friction, which resulted in little holes in the fabric. The proper repair involved more fabric, a sewing machine and lots of time. The English club I went to found a solution that just involved some sticky tape and a couple of minutes. Surprisingly it worked fine, but looked bad. Some canopies had lots of black sticky tape patches.
Fortunately, I had my own parachute.