Repairing Old Clothes

I'm not sure if the days on which I've been going have just been busier than usual, or if more people are thrifting than before, but William's pants have been trickier to secure than they were once upon a time!  So, I've taken to repairing holes in his pants, to give them a slightly longer life.

I found some fabric in my stash that matched the existing embellishments on his pants, and so I added large patches over each knee.  I could only use my machine to sew the long sides, so had to sew the short sides by hand, but it was still faster than sewing it all by hand!

On another pair of his pants the body kind of looked like a snake, so I added little feet and a head and made it into a lizard!  When I showed it to William, he knew exactly what it was!

Ladies clothes are always in abundance in thrift stores, so I don't really have any excuse for repairing my clothes, other than that I don't want new clothes.  ::pouts::  I like the clothes that I have!  So I was so sad when I took off my jeans the other day and they had a hole, right where my purse rubs, incidentally.

I like the way these jeans fit, and so I repaired them, instead of buying new ones.  I'll eventually have to replace them, but maybe after many, many repairs?

The embroidery thread that I pulled out of the craft bin in the basement was such a perfect match to the existing thread that I had to use it, but sadly it had been cut into tiny 8inch strips, so it was constant knotting and re threading.  Even so, I like the way it came out, and am hopeful that this repair lasts a while!

One of my layering shirts had two small holes in the sleeves, a small seperation on a seam, and the bottom edge is wearing thin.  When my current night shirt dies, I'll replace it with this one, but in the meantime, I'd really like to keep it in my rotation.

I repaired the hole in the seam, and sewed around the bottom edge to curtail the current fabric unravelling that is claiming the bottom edge of the shirt.  I would not wear it as an outer layer in it's current state, but it's good enough as an under layer!

The small holes in the sleeve were a quick 'star' repair.  They don't look as cute post-washing, but at least they shouldn't be getting any larger!

I was missing half of the clasp for Grace's overalls.  I searched under the washer and dryer, and moved the laundry bins in search of the missing piece.  I pulled a few things out of the 'miscellaneous' container that I keep useful, homeless, odds and ends in.  None of them quite fit the bill.

Then, I had the best experience when I cleaned out the lint trap, there was the missing clasp!!!  I used rubber cement to fix it, but sadly after another wash, that did not keep it secured.

For round two, I used a super glue, so we'll see if that does what it needs to do.  We tried melting it with a soldering iron, but it didn't get hot enough to melt any of the metals that we had on hand.

If the super glue doesn't work, we'll break out the jb weld.  I didn't want to open an entire pack for just one repair, but now my purse needs some too (add it to the list of things to shop for... sigh) so if we open it at least it will be for two repairs!

I think there have been a few other repairs too, small holes and split seams, but they didn't get a picture session. lol.

It feels nice to repair the things we have, and takes the pressure off needing to find a replacement right.now. = )

A future purchase needs to be a fabric marker, so that I can make a grid and do a proper job of the Sashiko.  In the meantime, we'll just be a little 'boho!" = )

later days