Every so often, people bring us a beloved item that has been "ruined," asking if we can fix it.  Very rarely is the answer no, and often the fix is easier than you might expect. 

If you have a sentimental piece of clothing, it doesn’t have to be devastating when it’s damaged. 

We’ve all had that favorite T-shirt or a certain outfit that we just feel a little more excited about wearing than the rest of our clothes. 

(More often than not, it’s holding together our mental health and is the bright spot in our day.)

Anyways…

That devastating moment when you realize it’s damaged can make you heartsick… 

You know it’s silly that this is what has been holding together your sanity and you just can’t help it.

The weight of all the stress you’re carrying from your family, career, life… it all seemed manageable when you could wear your favorite hat/shirt/outfit…. 

So many people, in anguish, throw the item away…

If you stop to really think about it, everyone has an idea that they have options…

>>>calling a sewist

>>>going to the dry cleaners for mending

>>>buying a new item

>>>fixing the item yourself

But… BUT…

Your issues are rarely “not knowing what to do” because everybody sort of knows.

Your issues are that you don’t know HOW to fix it yourself, and it isn’t always easy to just ‘google it’. 

The reason you don’t know how to fix it is because sewing and mending used to be a household chore as commonplace as doing the dishes and we’ve let that go over the years.  

In this topsy turvy new reality the pandemic has created, we have LESS stability, less job security and less resources to just hire it done, or buy new items.  

If you want to live a little more sustainably, but you’re struggling to find ways to implement sustainability, I highly recommend sewing as a hobby, side hustle, or even a new career.  

Here’s a little secret🤫… when the economy goes to hell in a handbasket, the sewing business hardly notices.  In fact, it often is thriving while the rest of the world struggles to make it because people fix things when they can’t afford to buy them. 

I’m building a sewing video vault, called Project Sewing Vault, to help people add this skill back into their homes and you’ll be able to ask for the tutorials YOU need alongside the instruction I think is important out of my sewing career.  

Sign up for our newsletter HERE if you’re interested in knowing more, and enjoy this quick tutorial below. 

Here's the condition we received the hat:

Another angle of the damage:

Carolyn got some fabric that matched the body of the hat and placed it over a pressing tool called a ham.  A rolled up towel would also work. Then, she placed the hat over the fabric and marked the holes with a disappearing fabric marking pen (not to be confused with fabric markers that are permanent for drawing decorations that don't wash out).

Then Carolyn laid the fabric flat on the ironing board and put some Stitch Witchery on the patch, outside of where the holes are located.  This is a kind of tape that turns into an iron on patch - sort of like glue.  Don't touch the iron directly to this stuff or you'll have a sticky mess. 

There's a special teflon sheet that you cover the stitch witchery to bond it to the fabric patch without making a sticky mess on your iron. This makes the patch an iron on patch.  Lots of people assume that this means a repair is complete, but it really is not. Iron on is really only used to temporarily stick something together so you can get it under the sewing machine to sew the patch in place. 

Carolyn placed it back over the pressing "ham" to iron the patch onto the hat for a temporary bond before sewing them together.  And yes, that's a silicone oven mitt to keep you from steaming your hand like mixed veggies. Hurts like the dickens, I do not recommend.  Get yourself some mitts.

Here Carolyn stitched with the grain of the fabric in straight stitches to mimic the original fabric.  A common misconception in the home sewing/mending world is that you have to use zigzagging and you have to stitch the crap out of it.  Stitching with the grain like this makes a more polished professional look and makes the repair look less like a bad Home Economics project.  The key is having thread that EXACTLY matches the fabric and then thread that EXACTLY matches the contrasting bits. The colored stitching is zigzagging, but it's done to match the original stitching to help camouflage the repair. 

Here's the Before and after again:

Thanks for stopping by!

Topic in this post: #OddSewingJobs, #SewingTechniques

Kristen sews because clothes don't come shaped like humans and people often think their bodies are the problem, which is a problem.

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