Full disclosure: I didn’t do a lick of mending between my last post about it on March 9th and today. It’s just not what I reach for after a long day of work, and last weekend was spent prepping to stay home. And I guess when faced with a global pandemic, somehow I just wanted to create something new, not fix what was broken, last weekend. I mean, who knows what the future brings? Do I really want what could be my last hours of crafting to be mending?
Also, my mending pile has grown since I made this plan and that just didn’t seem fair. For example, in measuring the inseam on an existing pair of TheEnabler’s pants to determine where to put the hem on his new ones at the beginning of March, I discovered a rip in the old ones. But really, if we’re going to stay home, how many pairs of pants does he actually need?
Ok fine, since they are one of his favorite pairs… I decided I could fix them. Luckily, the fabric was still in good shape and there was enough ease to just move the seam further into the fabric a bit. I made TheEnabler try them on after I fixed them just to be sure the fit was still ok.
Since he hasn’t taken them off and the rip was in the crotch… you don’t get photos.
My next repair of the day was somewhat less intimate, so photos are no trouble. One of our precious* top sheets was ripped a few weeks back. It’s undetermined if the cat ripped it, or if we ripped it and the cat just found it. She is good at finding holes since there could be mice or bugs in them. Anyhow, while the sheet is definitely getting older (the gold is noticeably lighter and the fabric softer than the matching pillowcases which have been used less) the fabric wasn’t more worn in the spot of the tear. So, a little careful whip stitching by hand et voilà:
Now, I would like a little credit that my first two repairs today were completed mere weeks since the items in question were first damaged.
My last repair of the day cannot be placed in this category. Instead, this item has been laid aside waiting for attention for months. I’m not precisely sure how many…
It’s a simple silk caftan for throwing on in the morning and lounging around in delicious indulgent style which my mother-in-law gave me years ago. There aren’t separate sleeves, but instead the side seam is sew wrong sides together several inches in from the bound edge of the fabric. The “sleeves” are formed by the excess fabric above the end of the side seam. Evidently, the way in which I move around put considerably strain on the top of the seam and it ripped out on both sides. I choose to believe that this was due to the mighty muscular nature of my arms, and not that I move around gracelessly in the morning. I am extremely graceful at all times.
On the back you could see where the stitches pulled out of the fabric, but on the front there are also rather nasty looking horizontal tears as well, as shown in the image above. Now, since exactly the same thing happened on both sides, I decided to simply reinforce the “new” top of the side seam on each side rather than extending the seam back to its original point. Then I did a quick whip stitch reinforcement on the fabric of the back before turning my attention to the front. Here, I whipped stitched the fabric together vertically above the seam until I reached the horizontal tear, and then fixed that.
As with the sheet, this was a violent tear, not a slow wearing away of fabric, so the surrounding fabric was sound. Thus, I chose to just pull the sides together rather than adding a patch and deal with the slight pucker. I am pleased with how much the repair just fades into the busy flower pattern. Somebody just casually glancing at the image above might not even realize that it’s an image of a repaired piece of fabric.
So there you have it, three more repairs today.
*The Germans don’t do top sheets. You buy a bottom sheet (usually jersey, which I hate) and then put your comforter in a duvet. This serves as blanket and top sheet in one. We brought a couple top sheets from home because we dislike this approach.