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Arts & crafts

A successful mend!

(11 Posts)
Witzend Thu 21-Jul-22 19:33:33

To my chagrin, I found that a favourite pair of summer trousers, navy cotton/linen - had suffered badly from chub rub - two small upper thigh patches virtually worn away! And I’m not all that huge - still a size 14.

The trousers weren’t cheap, so I was really gutted at the idea of binning them. Found some plain navy material in John Lewis - bought the smallest amount possible - 10 cm - and stitched on two small patches.
They honestly don’t show, and unless I ever try to do the splits in public, or take to sitting in a blatant man(woman)spreading manner, they never will.

Mizuna Thu 21-Jul-22 19:48:40

Well done!!!! smile

vampirequeen Thu 21-Jul-22 20:14:43

Brilliant idea.

rubysong Thu 21-Jul-22 22:37:45

Great Witzend if you like things it's good to keep them going. I have a white linen top I've had for many years. It was quite pricey (for me) and when holes developed under the arms I managed to put patches on. I'm so glad I did as it has been very useful in this hot weather.

SueDonim Thu 21-Jul-22 22:54:50

Good for you!

I haven’t done that for myself but used to do it for my boys’ school trousers. A trick to make it less visible is to put the patch on the inside and use as tiny stitches as possible so it doesn’t show on the right side.

vegansrock Fri 22-Jul-22 05:04:09

I have a pair of Gap denim shorts bought in a sale at least 30 years ago as I have a photo of me in them on holiday wearing them in 1990. They come out every summer and are soft pale blue. They have developed several holes over the years which I have mended using the Japanese method of Sashiko, which is making a feature of a repair. They showed it on Sewing Bee recently. I put a Liberty print cotton behind the hole and using embroidery cotton from behind made decorative stitches over and around the hole. YouTube was a help. I’ve worn them several times already this summer. Mending and extending the life of garments rather than chucking away should be something we are all doing

Niobe Fri 22-Jul-22 07:58:00

When my younger son was small he used to wear out the knees of his trousers very fast. I remember buying a pricey pair of Osh Kosh corduroy trousers which he never managed to wear out because they had patches of iron on interfacing on the inside at knee level. After that I often reinforced his new trousers in this way.
I saw the episode of Sewing Bee that features Sashiko and thought it looked great. Worth trying.

mylovelynightmare Thu 28-Jul-22 16:24:48

hello friends im new here

Granmarderby10 Thu 28-Jul-22 16:35:43

Would love to be able to vegansrock but I was never taught at home or at school and so remain convinced that I can’t?

SueDonim Fri 29-Jul-22 14:33:04

Granmarder Youtube is your friend! You’ll find all sorts of helpful ‘How To’ videos on there. It’s never too late to learn.

AreWeThereYet Fri 29-Jul-22 18:28:38

It's so satisfying making a much loved garment wearable again. Many years ago I did an invisible mend on the front of a favourite white skirt after reading about it in a sewing book. I had to cut a piece out of the hem (remember when skirts actually had a decent hem?) big enough to cover a cigarette hole in the front. It worked pretty well. It was visible if you really looked hard but was luckily partially covered by a pleat.