|
|
Summer 2006 Make Mending a Habit and Prolong the Life of Your Family's Clothes 1. Create a mending bag. Put all of your mending supplies in one place, like a tote bag. Here are some suggestions to put into the bag. If you don't have time to make a trip down to the fabric store, most of these things can be found online at Clotilde.com and Hancock Fabrics.com. Buttons -save these in all colors and sizes. The little white ones are great to cut off worn out shirts. You'll almost certainly reuse them. Iron-on patches Appliqués -can be put over a hole Stitch Witchery (an iron on fusible tape you can use for hems) Snaps-and snap gun to attach them if you do not have the sew-on variety Scissors Thread-white, black, blue, tan Pins Needles. Large Safety Pins-These work really well for pulling through drawstrings or elastic that has worked its way out of the casing. Small Safety Pins Goo Gone-This will take a sticker off a shirt even after you've washed it. I've tried similar products but this one works the best! Collar extender -a button with a loop that will extend neck space under a collar Fray Check Use for fraying seams Zipper Safety-This gadget that connects to the zipper and then hooks to the pant button. This way the zipper won't slip down. Fabric Glue-Glues the rip shut
Depending on your mending needs there are probably more things you could add to this list. You could store this bag somewhere you might be idle (?). Maybe next to your bed, in your car, or in the kitchen.
2. Group "Like Jobs" together. Hems to fix, buttons to sew, clothes to patch or appliqué, socks to darn, rips to mend.
3. Jump on thinning knees before your kid's knees burst through. Put a patch underneath the knees either when you first purchase the jeans or when you start to see the color of the pant leg lightening around the knee.
4. Know What to Stitch Where-If you are mending on machine use a straight stitch for cotton, denim, and any woven fabric. Use a small zigzag stitch for a knit fabric. A small zig zag stitch is great for mending holes in socks quickly. To mend a seam that rips often try the elastic stitch-one forward-two back. There is an excellent book that illustrates this. Wardrobe Quick-Fixes by Jan Saunders.
|