An idea devised by The Snail of Happiness…
The Husband of Chiconia drives a great big B-double fuel tanker, and even in these scary times, he’s still driving it; Australia still needs fuel. One of the things he has to do in his very long 14-hour day is take a couple of fatigue-management breaks. Usually, there’s a spot of napping, since he’s of the lucky sort that can sleep anywhere, any time.
To aid this process, years ago I made him a couple of cushions to go with the truck quilt I constructed from his old work shirts. The cushion front was made from recycled work jeans, and the back from leftover flannel from backing the quilt. Their hard life is now showing badly, and a serious mending was needed. They’ve been mended before, but the fabric was giving way around the mend.
I sliced the ripped backing off the still sturdy denim front, hemmed the edge of two pieces of navy flannel, overlapped them and serged the original front onto the new backing.
Job No. 1 done.
For Job No. 2, I had two pairs of his work pants to mend. They always go at the centre seam, around the seat, probably because he spends so much time sitting on that area in the course of his 14 hour day shift and 10 hour night shift. The trousers are usually perfectly serviceable everywhere else, so I refuse to throw them away, even when already mended (sometimes several times).
I have a basket of patching material cut from the legs of previous pairs, so I select a piece the right size. I pull the edges of the tear together with either batting tape or fusible interfacing. If it’s bad, I’ll do some freehand machine darning. After that, I press a narrow hem all round the patch. I then pin the patch in place and go round the edge with a wide blanket stitch, which secures it very well. The trick is to ensure the patch lies flat while you sew it in place, and to ensure you don’t sew it to any other part of the garment! Anyway, here are both pairs. One with its first patch, one with a new one overlying a previous repair. He doesn’t get carefully colour-coordinated patching, mainly because it’s not an option, he gets whatever blue patches are available, but also because 90% of the time, he’s actually sitting on the evidence!
Job No. 2 done too!
talltalesfromchiconia 
Brilliant… makes no sense in throwing something away when it can be mended. Where you can save a buck especially in this time is excellent ๐ฅฐ
Those pants can be virtually bald in the seat and the legs are still perfect. Which is why all my patches are made from legs! At some point, you just run out of whole fabric to sew the patches onto, and then it’s time to let them go.
And these parts will be stronger than ever now …
True, but I’m sure the Husband will find a way to test them to destruction ๐
Oh yes Iโm sure but then he does know he has NeedleWoman there to save him ๐คฉ
Hehehe! I try and mend several pairs at once, so I let the number of pairs in his drawer dwindle till he’s down to only enough for one shift, and then do a bulk mend. NeedleWoman to the rescue!
Hahahahaha… ๐
I love it. I have done my husband’s jeans that way for years. He always brings them to me and asks if I can. I have mended mends, replaced zippers until they are so threadbare he cant wear them any longer. It is a worthwhile skill to have and embrace.
By the time the zippers go, the pants are usually toast, but hems, pockets and rips are all common fare. I’ve even added leather binding strips to the back edge of pants hems to stop them fraying. It works well, and you can salvage them to use again on the next pair…
I like your title…boy have I mended a few levis over the years.
I can’t take credit for it, the Snail of Happiness started the whole thing ๐
It works.
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Waste not, want not. Old fabric is soft and easy to be near. I mended for many years. Very little wears out these days. Great job on the cushion.
He’s quite hard on his clothes, so I’m often mending tears, sewing on buttons, etc. I quite like the patching jobs; somehow the fact that there’s a visible mend is satisfying, like a sign that says “frugal wife”!
Watch the crotch!
The Husband has a nice backside, which rewards watching! Seriously, though, I can’t send him out raggedy-arse….
you are funny ๐
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I love Mend it Monday. There’s 2 pairs of my jeans which need some inner leg reinforcements waiting on the sofa behind me for attention. Next Monday!
I’ve been saying that for two weeks and I finally shamed myself into getting the job done! Ooooh, something I can tick off the list!
Just about to pop a link to this in my post for the week. Thanks for joining in… great repairs there.
It’ll probably be a while till the next one, but you never know!
[…] And I’m delighted that Kate has joined me this week. You can read her post here. […]
Resourcefulness at its best my the best ๐
My mother would be spinning in her grave if I didn’t mend, re-purpose, eke out, create tasty meals from unpromising scraps or *think* my way around shortages.
What a good woman! ๐
I did offer, albeit half heartedly, to patch the rip in the knee of Mr. T’s jeans yesterday but he declined my offer. You can’t help some people.
There are three possibilities, I suppose: he likes the extra ventilation, or he’s planning to do it himself, or he’s planning some outlandish leather patchery with brass studs and spurious straps and buckles. Hope it’s the latter, I’d love to see what he came up with!
There’s a fourth possibility – he’s just a scruffy bugger.
True that. We’ll credit him with option 1, then….
Fabulous!!! Well done you!
I agree with the Snail of Happiness, every mend is worth celebrating!
This post has me smiling!!! I’ve done the patch thing over the years, too. Sometimes husband amazed me. I would wonder, “how did you DO this?” ๐
I’m pretty sure I know how mine does it, since the rips are always in the same place… Fortunately, dark underwear ensures no-one gets too much of an eyeful before I can get them mended!
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Very wise. I like that the very old and necessary art of patching, mending, and re-working garments has begun to carry its own retro-chic. May this era of new jeans coming pre-torn move on to one where the menders of the world teach us the true satisfaction of making something anew.
Patches of honour, symbols of hard work and frugality. The Japanese have had it right for centuries with their decorative mending.