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The Joys of Having Mended

9/13/2021

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In Jane Austen's novel Mansfield Park, Fanny's sailor brother visits while on shore leave and regales the family with the rigors of life at sea.  Henry Crawford, a wealthy loafer, reflects as he listens...
He longed to have been at sea, and seen and done and suffered as much. His heart was warmed, his fancy fired, and he felt the highest respect for a lad who, before he was twenty, had gone through such bodily hardships and given such proofs of mind. The glory of heroism, of usefulness, of exertion, of endurance, made his own habits of selfish indulgence appear in shameful contrast; and he wished he had been a William Price, distinguishing himself and working his way to fortune and consequence with so much self-respect and happy ardour, instead of what he was!
He toys with these fantasies for a few minutes, before someone mentions hunting, and he finds is "as well to be a man of fortune"! 

Per Austen's delicate genius, she tucks deeper meaning into the syntax of her sentences than the nouns or verbs: savor the careful past-perfects in this paragraph.  Henry Crawford doesn't actually want to experience privations or work hard or prove his mettle; he wants to "have done" so!  In the past.  He doesn't want to build character, he wants to be on the other side of that building project, looking back with self-congratulation at what a fine man he's made of himself. 

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(Almost) Perfect Plaid Skirt

1/3/2019

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When I was sorting my clothes using the KonMari method, I held each garment in my hands and asked myself "Do I love this?  Does it spark joy in me?"  Quite a lot of things went west, but the ones that stayed taught me a little about what my style actually is*, and made me determined not to settle for clothes that were "almost" right but not quite, when I could have things that are perfect for me. 

Today I'm going to show you one of the few things I kept even though it had a ton of little problems with it, and what I did to make it perfect for me. 
* Tailored, classic but quirky, and nipped-in at the waist!  Warm colors with rich saturation. 

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Mending a Cut in a Plaid Shirt

8/6/2018

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I once heard a tragic tale: a man ordered an expensive winter jacket from a sportswear company, and when it came in he eagerly opened the package using a blade... which went too deep and sliced right through the front of the jacket!  The company wouldn't take the coat back, since the damage wasn't their fault, so there went several hundred dollars down the drain!  True to my preoccupations, when I heard the story my first thought was that I wished I'd been around to try to mend it.  I reckon some latex patches on the inside of each cut edge, carefully ironed with a press cloth, would have been a good start...

I'm such a sewing geek!  So when a friend buys a shirt from Goodwill with a cut in it, I am pleased to take on the task of mending it.

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Refreshing a Gap Skirt

7/23/2018

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This skirt is from the Gap, size 2, with a tag that says (among other numbers) "03/Fall".  It comes to me much loved; its previous owner tried to wear it long after outgrowing it, with resulting damage to the side seam and zipper. I picked it out of a free pile because its pink paisley charmed me and it looked like it would fit*. 
* I say "looked like" because I put no faith in store sizes.  My own size could be 36 (old patterns that go by bust size), 34 (modern European sizes), 18 (pre-1957 patterns), 16 (retro patterns), 12 (modern patterns), or between 2 and 6 in modern American ready-to-wear, depending on store and style.  As for Small/Med/Large, it's anyone's guess! 
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(Click here for a good chart of International clothing sizes!)


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Darning a Tartan

4/5/2018

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In 2003 I visited Scotland, and I wanted to buy some tartan souvenir, since the plaids are so beautiful.  Since I have no affiliation with any Scottish clan, I didn't feel right buying a clan tartan; luckily, there are non-clan tartans.  So I browsed through a very touristy shop, and one particular color combo caught my eye: almost equal parts blue and green, with thin orange and black stripes, and subtle gray easing from one stripe to another.  I looked at the tag, and read "New York City". 
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The tartan belongs on the bed. The kitties don't!

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Repairing a Doll

2/19/2018

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Elizabeth
When I was a child, my mom inherited her grandmother's Raggedy Ann doll pattern, and I wanted a doll of my own--but not Raggedy Ann.  I had a vision: blonde hair, and a pretty floral dress, and no dorky bloomers!  My mom helped me sew the doll, which makes it, perhaps, one of my first projects ever.  I remember after cutting out the pieces with my mom's help, I went back later and cut off all the seam allowances because I didn't want my dolly to have "fat arms"!  My mom laughed and shook her head and tried to explain that the seam allowances were structural, not seen.  Anyway, I sewed her, and named her Elizabeth, and dragged her all over.  Recently, visiting my parents, I took a look at her and felt sorry for my creation... she needed some TLC!  So, with my five-year-old niece's help, I mended and washed the doll. 

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TUTORIAL - How to sew a button on a jacket

1/15/2018

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One of my medium-weight jackets (a nice wool tartan labeled Moss Brothers Covent Garden*, which has been very serviceable to me) lost a button on Christmas day, while I was shoveling ice off the driveway.  Since another button was loose, I took the opportunity to change all three buttons for prettier ones, and took pictures along the way!  The original buttons were plain black plastic shaft buttons.  The new ones are bronze flat buttons with maple leaves on them in bass relief.  There was even a worn area that needed patching, which makes me childishly excited.  If such things interest you (or childishly excite you), read on!

*It's a women's jacket, but I don't see any women's stuff on their website now, so perhaps they no longer make womenswear.

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A Darn with Two Techniques

12/18/2017

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I recently darned a sweatshirt for a friend.  Since I've already shown how I darn using Single Corded Brussels stitch, bridging the hole by throwing my thread across and then covering that thread with buttonhole stitches on the way back, I decided this time to use the more basic Single Brussels stitch, no cording, to show you something different.  However, the Single Brussels stitch is lighter than Single Corded Brussels, so how would I fill the hole with something approximating the weight of the rest of the fabric?  I decided on needle weaving.  So now I have two techniques to show you: Single Brussels stitch being used to darn, and needle weaving.  You can darn with needle weaving alone, but in this example I do a very slip-shod job of it only to bulk up for my serious darn, which is the Single Brussels stitch. 

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Re-lining a Purse / National Handbag Day

10/10/2017

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A new client came to me with a favorite purse, now desperately in need of a new lining.  "My dad says I should get a new one, but I like this one," she said.  I am very much in favor of mending instead of buying new, especially when the item in question is good quality.  This purse is a sturdy leather job, with the leather all intact, though a bit dried out.  The lining though... what a wreck!  I said I could replace it, and she was delighted. 
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Sad, torn lining on a Hobo bag
"The original has pockets... if it's not too much trouble, I'd like at least one pocket," she said.  And "You don't have to replace the linings on the smaller side pockets, if you don't want.  They're not torn..."

It's funny: if someone has a list of requirements, I meet them, but if someone gives me a bare minimum and tells me that they're fine with "just" that, I always want to exceed their expectations.  I want them to be pleasantly surprised. 

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Do You Darn?

8/7/2017

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I never officially learned to darn... I simply figured out my own method after I learned some needlelace.  My method is simple: first I used a doubled thread to outline the hole, giving it wide margins.  Then I fill this outline with a Corded Brussels stitch.  Where there is cloth, I sew the Brussels stitch through it, thus thickening the fabric.  Where there is a hole, I just sew Corded Brussels stitch right over it, putting a layer of new cloth where there was none.  When I'm teaching someone to darn, I use contrasting thread, but generally I match the sock color.  ​

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    Karen Roy

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