Make Do and Mend

I hate throwing out anything that is useful or can be mended to be useful again.These pair of favourite shorts had two holes in them,  they still fitted and it was a shame to throw them out, so I decided to mend them instead.

To get a good repair always use the closest match as you can with the thread and material to be mended.  If you have a badge to cover the hole just either mend with a white or black thread whichever is the closest.

To mend the holes without a badge, follow these instructions.

Firstly cut out a square of fabric close to the colour of the shorts.

Pin it on two edges to hold it in place on the wrong side of the fabric, once you have done a couple of stitches you can remove them.  Use a small zig-zag stitch and keep going forward and backward.  Take the needle out and slightly move the fabric over abit and go back and fore trying to keep to an even square.

Once you have finished it you can pull the threads to the back and tie off, if you can’t just cut them off close.

Turn your garment to the back and very carefully cut around the fabric backing, be very careful not to cut your garment.

If you are mending a hole in jeans especially on the knees, to gain easy access you might have to undo the main seam.  Undo the seam on the inside of the trousers, use a quick and pick tool if you have one to undo the seam. Just undo enough seam opposite the hole. Once you have finished it all sew up the seam.