mending

Patching jeans

| run-sew-read

You wouldn’t know it now, but these jeans were once Casual Friday office attire.

Jeans back b w RSR

Then they morphed into my go-to comfortable yard work and housework jeans. Then a knee blew out.  Then the other knee went.  With two holey knees they were stylish, so heck yes, I kept wearing them.  Now they’ve reached the point where the denim is falling apart in places.

Jeans worn spot a w RSR

I don’t need to keep the jeans, but they are darn comfortable.  So, I started using them to experiment with patchwork.  A dig through my stash ensued.  Flowers from this barkcloth print now cover the knee holes.

Floral fabric for jeans a w RSR

Some chambray strips from old curtains, are now a woven patch to reinforce the worst weak spot in the denim.  It’s working well.

Jeans front a w RSR

For the next fix, I want to mask the stained sides, where I’ve wiped my hands way too many times.  I’ve removed a pocket, which shows what color the fabric used to be.  Jeans side a w RSR

I’ll put the pocket back on, but maybe not in the same spot.

Pocket - RSR

My mom used these iron-on patches on my brother’s jeans all the time when we were little.  They didn’t last that long on little boys’ jeans.  The patch edges would start lifting, and then the patches could be peeled off.  I might find a way to use these on my jeans. Patches - RSR

The patchwork will be a continuous work in progress.  There are more places to repair now or soon, and as I wear the jeans, they will keep developing new areas to be patched.

Jeans knees a w RSR

Hopefully the jeans will keep looking better as I add to them, so that someday they warrant showing in another post.

Not a blue jeans song, because this creative process is about thinking outside the lines and beyond the obvious.

 

 

It worked! I stretched a shrunk rayon dress back to size.

| run-sew-read

Absentmindedly I tossed this dress into the wash with a load of colors, on the cold gentle cycle.  Out came a tiny dress for a shorter stick version of myself.  Turns out it is one of those awful super-shrinky rayon dresses from a prior decade.Care label w comment

I didn’t take a picture of the shrunken dress, so you’ll have to imagine the dress in this picture not draping freely from the dress form, but instead fitting snugly with open gaps between the buttons down the front.  The sleeves were skin-tight on my arms.  It was bad.Rayon dress 1 -- rsr

My only options I thought, were to put it in the donation box, or repurpose it into another garment.  Then I found this unshrinking method that uses hair conditioner.  This blog gave super easy instructions:  Almostherealthing.com  I checked a couple of other sites to compare, and they were mostly consistent on the method:

In a tub or pan, combine warm water and hair conditioner, in a ratio of 1 quart of water to 1 tsp. conditioner.  Soak the garment in the solution for about 10 minutes.  Remove the garment and blot with a towel to remove dripping water, then stretch and reshape and dry.  Repeat if necessary for more stretching.

I didn’t have hair conditioner on hand for the unshrinking project.  Dollar Store to the rescue!Conditioner

I was dubious.  But…wow, it really worked!  The unshrinking was easy and inexpensive.  It’s truly regrettable that I didn’t take a ‘before’ picture of the dress in its shrunken state, for dramatic comparison purposes.

Here is the dress after unshrinking and drying.  I’ve had the dress for years.  For ‘vintage’ events, such as WWII or 1940s themed occasions, it is my go-to garment.  It’s super comfortable and bike-able.  It goes well with a straw sun hat.  I’m glad to have it back.  Rayon dress 2 -- rsr

I’m wearing the dress in this shadow picture, taken at the end of a vintage homes bicycle tour.  Bicycle dress shadow -- RSR

About that $1 bottle of conditioner…

Now that I have a nearly-full 32oz bottle of hair conditioner on hand. I need to figure out what to do with it.  Here are some ideas.  20 Genius Uses for Hair Conditioner  This article makes hair conditioner seem like WD-40 for the body.  I’ll certainly be giving some of the suggestions a try.