Hello all! Another quick post with the fruits of a bit of weekend sewing. Yes I have got to write up about my latest knit dress (oooh! polka dots, lace, hopefully no iron & plenty of comfort) but I haven’t time this evening so thought you’d be tickled by how I turned the outcome from that dreaded question “will you mend my xyz” into something that I took a perverse pleasure from.
Let’s face it- mending is penance for something you have got wrong in a former life. Fact: the few men I have dated in my life assume that if you sew you therefore love darning socks & can make suits. Fact 2: These same men seem to think that there is nothing more enjoyable than mending a ripped crotch seam on trousers/ shorts as they were last worn (& in the case of Gary, being a builder his trousers “go” in that seam in an environment of dust & cement. He seems puzzled when I turn dusty broken-open-crotched trousers away from my genteel sewing machine & delicate hands).
I dread mending. How on earth is my sewing going to pull that faithful pair of (old) trousers through a few more months of occupational punishment? Anyway, thankfully the shorts above are not actually work shorts, but Gary’s wardrobe staple between February and November. Not surprisingly they are showing signs of wear, miraculously not in the nether regions though. When he showed them to me & asked me to mend them I sighed with relief (Phew, no dust, no awkward knee holes, no gaping hole between fly & rear)
With a twinkle in my eye I asked him how he felt about patches, what were his manly boundaries? Could he cope with florals? How loud could the colours be?
I zig zagged the rips up then fashioned some groovy patches – the one on the right is Anna Marie Horner Loulouthi, left over from this skirt, & on the left, some fabric left over from my sundress. Good news! Gary loves colour & is at ease with the de-butchification of his camo shorts!
Now like I said, Gary lives in these, so I am not expecting more mending for a while, but if it can be like this, then that’s fun! What do you think? Does anyone actually ever enjoy mending? Anyone take pleasure in fiddly awkward to get at patching & reinforcing? Or is it just me that hates it?!
I always say I’ll mend my husband’s clothes, but what that really means is I hide them in my secret mending stash that I look at, but do nothing with, once a year or so. A few weeks ago I needed a simple task to do while listening to something, so I pulled out my mending. He was completely taken aback when I presented him with something I’d actually fixed. I’ll have to remember your handiwork if I ever need to patch anything of his…although it will likely be another few years before I do!
He he he!! Sound plan Jamie! If I did that for gary he’d have nothing to wear…he has about 1% the clothes I’ve got… Could be interesting!
This made me laugh so much. You are spot on about men and sewing – my husband is forever asking if I’ll darn his socks. “Er, no”. “Then what’s the point of being married to someone who sews…” AND he has recently started asking whether I’d like to make him a tailor made suit.
LOVE love love the patches. Genius. Bravo to Gary for wearing those shorts. One final question – will you be coordinating outfits now?! I want to see a Mr and Mrs picture, please…
Never thought of his and hers pics!! Yes, the number of times gary has asked if I can make him, wait for it, ‘an Armani suit’!!
Yes! Love the girlie patches! Way to make a boring task fun! Man Friend (and every other dude who knows I sew) ALWAYS asks for a suit! What is UP with that?!
Exactly, I don’t get it, it seems to be a man thing as lady friends who can’t sew dream of dresses rather than suits. Is the suit the male equivalent of the most gorgeous dress?!
Agree, agree, agree. Not too long ago I finally tossed several pairs of jeans that my son had asked me to repair years ago. I like your solution very much, brilliant!
Thank you Corinne, much fun!!
I love the patches! You always make me laugh. My (male) boss is always asking me about fixing his zippers in his pants – last thing I want to be doing is playing with his crotch, regardless of whether he is wearing the pants or not! ICK!!
I draw the line at mending zips ( sounds like I do lots of mending, which I really don’t) but zips…no no. And your boss??? Eeek!
LOL!! Up til now when my guy asks for mending I say I can only do it if the rip is on a seam
However… if I could persuade him to let me patch MY way perhaps I would do it 
Great idea!!
Ha ha, yes, polka dots, florals, he could flaunt his mending with style! And like Janet said, you could be coordinating!!
I hate mending too… But at the same time I also find it rather satisfying: I’m taking a piece of clothing that is basicly destined to go in the bin and make it into a wearable garment in a short time – with out cutting into new fabric. It makes me proud, somehow. Especially when I can salvage something like a kid’s winter suit by putting in a new zipper (but oh, how I hate actually doing it! The unpicking of stitches!)
Sadly I understand where you’re coming from Maria. I also get satisfaction as my halo glows brighter for having done something that’s such a chore, so virtuous satisfaction can be a pleasant reward
( don’t get the feeling that often!!)
Ugh, I hate mending, and turning up trousers, and replacing zips, etc, etc. My hubby recently threw away a pair of shorts that had been laying on our dining room floor for a couple of months after he asked me to sew a rip in the back seam. The fabric was worn so thin I doubt I could have done anything that would last longer than about 5 seconds anyway! Thankfully he has no interest in me making garments for him.
The mending stalemate and you won! Hurrah!!
Lovely patches! Mr D was unaware till now that the type of sewing we do can also be used for mending things. I shall use Jamie’s tactics and hide the clothes!!
Or sam’s solution forcing a stalemate and see who cracks first?
I agree with Maria, I like rescuing clothes from the bin. Husband always wears out the pockets in his suits and I’ve become quite adept at replacing them quickly enough, with some suitably loud fabric of course – it all stays on the inside anyway! It would such a waste for him to chuck them out AND buy another suit just because of that! Though obviously if he did chuck them out, my son would get some rather stylish trousers out of them, which is what happens when the inseam finally breaks down.
Great subversive pocket mending going on there too then Jo! I guess rescuing a suit jacket as opposed to a tatty pair of shorts has a clear cost incentive too. That’s the good thing about Gary’s occupation, at least he doesn’t pay mega bucks for smart workwear….
Well my husband is the best darner I have ever met, so the holey sock pile belongs to him. It is gathering dust, but it’s HIS problem not mine!
I enjoy subversive mending too – odd buttons are my speciality. Every man needs a single dinosaur button on his cuff
Love that idea of button subversion, that really appeals to me!!
I love a technical challenge so if there is one involved, I get interested. Otherwise, it’s just BORING and MrC has to sew his own buttons on, even if it takes every ounce of willpower I have to not take over! I prefer to get in and reinforce before rips occur when I can. It seems more of a victory.
BTW, with those VERY manly legs, Gary can defo rock a few pretty patches without any decrease in male mojo
Ha ha !! I’ll pass on the compliment!! And sound advice to reinforce before trouble strikes, but I fear I’d hate that just as much!!
Answer: no!
Ha ha !!
I so hear you on this! My husband is the same – he’ll bring me the most god awful mending jobs and asume I’ll take pleasure in fixing them for him. I have also resorted to patches with him. In fact, he has a pair of jeans that is now about 40% covered in patches in different shades and designs of Japanese indigo fabric. He loves those jeans, as do I. It’s the only mending job I like because of the precious fabric. Perhaps in due time your Gary will be sporting predominantly flower patched shorts instead of the camo?
Now that’s an interesting prospect, takes patchwork and precious fabrics to a different level! Your husbands jeans do sound like a sew delight!
Lol!!!!! I didn’t think the patches were actually sewed on! I thought they were just placed there until I saw the last photo! Brilliant!!
Definitely never fun. Cut patches though
My college roommate’s brother once threw a pair of Wranglers at her and demanded that she patch the hole in the backside. She didn’t take well to this demand, but patched them for him and even tucked them into his dresser drawer when she was done. Of course, the next time he wore them was to the bar. So, running around the bar full of cowboys was a buckaroo (in their minds, the most manly of cowboys) with a heart patch on his butt. It was denim, but still obviously a heart shape. I still laugh.
Truly fitting ! He was lucky to get away with a denim heart as opposed to something a little more colourful!!