Friday, March 2, 2012

Reuse that Old Clothing! Part 4

After wearing my mended jeans for a couple of hours, I discovered a problem: I had neglected to notice that the material on the right knee just below the original tear was thinning.  This means that it was prime territory for a new tear.  I had mended the hole, but I had neglected to see the full extent of the problem.

Naturally, I brought out the scissors, needle, and ribbon, and began to fix this latest problem.

It only took five extra stitches to resolve the issue, but these were extra stitches that had nothing to do with my original design efforts.  I was concerned about how imbalanced the new look would be.



One trip to my full length mirror, however, let me know that there was nothing to fear.  For some strange reason, the extra stitches actually worked!

I put the jeans back on and continued to test the integrity of the finished project.

**30 minutes later:
I didn't fully catch the thinning portions of the jeans with the last stitches.  Time to throw a few more in... again.

**45 minutes after that:
So far, the new stitches on the right knee are holding.  Now, however, the material below the stitches on the left knee is starting to fray.  Time for more stitches again.  On the bright side, though, at least there's more of a balance again...

After several more stitches, I finally succeeded at mending my jeans.  In the future, however, it would be smart to place something on the backside of the fabric to make it more secure.  In hindsight, I should have researched this.  It appears that adding a water soluble stabilizer into the mix would have made this entire project much more viable.



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