Friday, May 13, 2011

Creative Repair



I have the hardest time finding pants that fit. If they fit in the hip, then I'm left with a big gap at the waist in the back that I could fit a walkie talkie in.
It seems that pants nowadays are straight from the waist down like guys' pants. It's like women don't have butts anymore. Who are these flat butted, no hip having women?

So when I do find a pair that fit, I wear them till they wear out. And where do my pants always wear out? Why on the inseam. Thighs. It's because of my thighs. (I tried to come up with some clever joke about friction and starting a fire, but they all sounded dirty)

Hence my new found talent,creative repair. Rather than throwing out a perfectly fitting pair of pants, I patch the holes. Now I could, and have, patch with the same color fabric, but why not take this opportunity to be a bit creative?

So with this pair, I decided to patch down both inseams with a floral print. (It is Spring you know) The result is something different looking that solves the threadbare problem.

To do this repair job, I cut 2 panels from a floral fabric and iron Heat N Bond on the back. Then I iron my patches to the pants. Next, I ripped open the outside seams so I could sew around the patches. I know some people will roll up the leg to fit it on their machine, but I find it's easier just to rip open the pant leg and then sew it back up afterwards. Especially with long patches like I'm using, but I do this with patches on the knees as well.

I will use a large busy print for repairs in case (oh who am I kidding? When.) this fabric gets a worn spot. I cut a large piece, in this case a big blossom, and sew it over the existing patch. This technique will also work for covering stains. That's right folks, pure class over here!

For more info check out Craft: they have a series of posts on mending and repair.
enjoy.