Mending Mondays: Evolution of a Patch

Remember the yelling hole in the pair of cords that I was working on patching? Well, two weeks ago I finished it, with little ado but a lot of satisfaction. So, using the tutorial that I posted worked fantasticly (is that a word?), although when it states "most pants have extra fabric that you can steal from to make a patch to match" (maybe that's another tutorial I'm thinking of - I vetted a lot of patching tutorials, you know :-) this is not true of factory made pants made by say, G*P (that's a swear word around here). They are stingy! I had to steal that little extra front pocket that I only ever use for tampons, and since these are destined for a guy friend, I doubt he'll miss it....

Here's that hole:


1. Inside reinforcing patch (just used a scrap of mine) to prevent further tearing, pinned, seen from the wrong side (the inside of the pants):


2. Seen from the right side:


3. I basted it on the right side so that I could see where I was going, and knew to stay on the inside of the pins:


4. Basted patch, seen from the wrong side:


5. I zigzagged around the edges of the patch:


6. Seen here from the right side of the pants:


7. And then, on the right side of the pants, zigzagged the edges of the hole (I know, this is getting really ugly):


8. So, the inside reinforcing patch is done. Now, made a matching patch from that little pocket and sewed it on the outside. Now, ideally, you'd have enough fabric to turn in the edges better and be picky about whether the patch itself was already a little worn, but whatever:


Ta-da! Considering that he said not to be to picky 'cause they're just hanging around pants, but they're his favourite, I say "not bad!" and pat myself on the back.


It's a crazy number of pictures for such a little thing, but I went a step further than the other tutorial by adding an outside patch as well. I think it's a really effective, thorough way of repairing clothes, and I fully intend to keep doing it this way. Also, I have to teach Safiya how to do this, 'cause she's just taken a pair of scissors to her newest jeans that she got from Granny. When I asked her about it, she said, "That's o.k.! We can just patch them!" Ha!

Lengthening Long Johns: Yet Another Use for Sweater Sleeves

Safiya is growing tall like a lovely weed, so her ankles are poking out the bottom of her long johns like, well, legs poking out the bottom of too-short long johns. They fit her otherwise, so enter the old sweater sleeves, once again! This took about ten minutes.


1. Fold up the cuff of the long johns:


2. Pick a sweater that has been felted only a little, or not at all, so that there's some give, and make sure that the sweater sleeve cuff will be the right size to be comfy around the ankles. Cut the sleeves however long you need. Slip over the turned-up long johns, with the cut edge of the sweater matching the end of the cuff. Match the seams and pin, evenly gathering and pinning any extra fabric:


3. Sew about a 1/4" seam. I used a straight stitch, loose-ish tension, and a walking foot, which is perfect for knits. (Sorry about the blurry picture!) Notice the direction of the pins now; you kind of have to flip the leg around and make sure that you don't sew the leg shut! :-)


4. Obviously the cuff edge is finished and the sweater sleeve edge is not. I didn't zig-zag finish the seam, though, just in case I someday want to remove the cuff...you know, just in case there's anymore kids around here....someday, maybe..... It should hold up because we wash woolens gently. So there you have it:


A longer leg!


If she keeps growing this fast she'll have rainbow coloured long john legs soon!
:-)

Ten Minute Mittens!

Welcome! If you have wandered over here via whip up, I'm glad you dropped by! The good folks over there have been so kind as to post a tutorial I wrote for some super-quickie mittens dreamed up in a hurry one day last fall.

And as you can see, we still need mittens over here in Toronto!


Brrrrrrr......

Marnie's Marvellous 10-Minute Mittens

(Note: This was posted on Whip-up and so I'm just releasing the original version now, as per their submission guidelines.)

It's still pretty cold out here. I had this idea in the fall, and it has served us well over the winter so far. Being fundamentally a lazy person whose knitting is marginal but loves felt and likes to keep her hands toasty, this is the best and fastest way for me to whip up a pair of mittens.

• Find a felted sweater (or create one). The ones that are the best for mittens probably started their lives as big mens' sweaters. What you're looking for is a wrist cuff that fits comfortably and snug around your wrist after it has been felted. Put your hand in the wrong way in to see that it fits and that there's enough wiggle room for your fingers. I'm using a felted alpaca sweater (sooooo soft!). Also very important: find a helper to complete important tasks such as measuring the fabric and other random objects in the house.

• Place your hand on the sweater and trace around just the top with some tailor's chalk. This way the sides of the mittens will already be done because you are using the existing seam and side.
  

• Cut out, about 1/2" from your trace line.

• Using a straight stitch and loose tension (and a walking foot if you've got one), make a seam, following just on the outside of your trace line.

• Turn the mitten inside out and test for comfort. You can see that I made an adjustment for around my thumb. Also, I've used white thread here for clarity, but you'll probably want to match the thread.

• Trim. No need to finish the edge! Make sure to round out the thumb to avoid pointy-thumb :-)
  

• Turn inside out and ta-da!
  

• Embellish, if you wish. If you don't, the whole project will probably take you all of ten minutes!
  

It's also useful to make one pair that is really soft for a liner and make a slightly larger pair out of more dense wool felt for the outside. Then they're extra warm even on a windy day and they dry faster after outside fun.

They're also perfect for drinking hot chocolate whilst contemplating the still very much dormant garden :-)

Little Kid LegCozys (Shhhhh They're Legwarmers!)

It's spring here, but hey, it's still pretty cold in places, so here's my offering for this month's Whip-lash on Whip-up!

Being urban baby-wearing parents in a frigid winter climate, we were often just going out for a quick walk to the corner store or braving the 2 minute walk to the mall from our condo just for a change of scenery and some sanity. If you've ever noticed, when a little one is in a sling or baby-carrier, very often their pants ride up and their poor little ankles are exposed, which is a problem not only in winter but in spring and fall with unpredictable weather and wind and such.

What to do? Donning the full gear was a hassle because when we got to our destination there were often no lockers and we'd have to lug everything around. Leggings underneath her pants were out as well, because then she'd boil in the mall (why do malls do that?).

Out of frustration one day I whipped these up. Yes, they're "just" legwarmers, but I still think they're brilliant because the felted wool kept her really cozy, you could keep her in the sling and just pull the legwarmers off when you got to where you were going (I wore her under my coat most of the winter, but that doesn't really help ankles), they were a cinch (ha ha) to put back on again, and the drawstrings kept them up when you needed to pull the bottom end down over her shoes to keep her warm. All good!

And since I made them to go all the way up to her little chubby baby thighs, they're still long enough to fit her now, at 2-and-a-half years old. There have been so many compliments, that I thought I'd share. They're fast to make (even if you include the felting), useful, and cute to boot!

Step One: Obtain felted sweater (a big baggy sweater with cuffs like this one makes great legwarmers for babes) and lop off the arms:


Step Two: Using a straight stitch and a fairly loose tension (and a knits needle!), hem all the way around, leaving enough of a "pocket" that you'll be able to put elastic cord through it when you're done. You don't have to worry about finishing the edge because it's felt (yay!).



Step Three: Snip a very small hole through the outer layer of the"pocket" and finish off with a blanket stitch or some such. On the original pair I didn't finish the hole and all the tugging and wear stretched it out a bit, so this prevents that a bit.


Step Four: Thread elasticised cord through (I just use a large safety pin to pull it through) and put on toggle. Leave ends plain with a knot if you're in a hurry (they'll fray) or finish off with pom-poms or ribbon tags - get creative!


The Finished Project:



And as a tribute, a picture of the originals, still going strong:


Obviously there are many ways to make these, and for older kids I skip the cord all together:


depending on how thick the wool felts. If you try these, hope you have fun :-)


and if there are any questions, please don't hesitate to email me! Thanks!