It seemed once the word got around the family that I was mending, clothing appeared in the pile on a daily basis. I mended a seam in a skirt, patched 2 pairs of jeans, hemmed 2 pairs of jeans, zig zagged the edge of 1 bath towel, 2 bath mats, and 2 kitchen washcloths. I repaired the split and fraying edge of the placket on a dress shirt, sewed the two halves of a bra back together (it split right down the front, while being worn :-o ), I sewed closed a hole in the underarm of a sweater, and I fixed my comfy pj bottoms at the waistband.
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| this one nearly stumped me, but this shirt went from this |
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| to this -- I hope this repair will give this shirt several more wearings |
Repairing clothing and household items is satisfying on a couple of levels. It's nice to be good stewards of resources and extend the use of all of these items.
With a zip of the machine, the towels, mats and washcloths can be useful for many more years. No need to send them to a landfill for quite some time. And it's a pleasure to see items in good repair.
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| these jeans were about to lose their ability to be buttoned |
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| this little fix should make the button hole last as long as the rest of the jeans |
Also, mending clothing and household items postpones the need to spend money to replace any of these things. I would guess that all of this mending put off spending a hundred dollars or more on replacing all of these items.
And making minor alterations allowed us to buy items at a significant discount, by being willing to put in a small amount of work to make the item fit right. The two pairs of jeans that I hemmed were both thrift store finds. Both were in very good condition, just too long.
My sewing machine was put away late Friday afternoon, as I readied the dining room for Easter dinner. But I know it won't be long before that mending pile starts to grow again.
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