When I visited Mindy Celeste this summer, I snagged my Icebreaker wool running tights on the pull-out metal frame of the sofa bed. My former way of fixing this would have been to patch it with a scrap of knit fabric. Now that I have a darning foot for my sewing machine, I darned it instead. The darning stitch is … Read more
My sister made me this blue comforter about 15 years ago. Unfortunately, the first house where I lived with it had a mouse problem so I ended up washing it in the machine more often than I should have otherwise. As a result, the edges have frayed. Some of the fabric wore through, too. Then Lilo the cat snacked on … Read more
How to mend a pillowcase after your cat (or dog, or child, or the local fabric-eating banshee) eats a corner of it. Read more …
I’m still working on mending some things that Lilo the cat ate before she was taking medicine for her fabric-eating compulsion. This project is a duvet cover that she nibbled near one of the corners. I sewed a seam around the hole, at an angle that connected the side and bottom (using white thread, below). I trimmed off the excess … Read more
I have a futon in my basement that’s between the size of a twin and a double mattress. Since it’s impossible to fold a flat sheet around the corners (there’s nothing to tuck them into), it really needed a fitted sheet for those times when it is used for sleeping. It was easy to convert an old fitted twin sheet … Read more
In December, I wrote a post about this comforter from Target that had developed a few snags in it. I covered one of the snags with this applique: … and then I set it aside and did nothing about the other snags until summer came. On this snag — — I sewed a four-point star sewn from four kite-shaped pieces. I … Read more
A while back I posted about Lilo, the Incredible Fabric-Eating Cat, and how she scarfed down the corner of a throw pillow my mom made for me a a few Christmases ago. After she made it her prey, it looked like this: I let it sit in the mending pile for many months, because I wasn’t sure how to fix it. … Read more
Do you have one of those shirts that’s so comfortable and flattering that you wear it at least ten times as often as any of your other clothes? This wine-red American Eagle shirt with fabric-covered buttons is one of those for me. After being worn a bazillion times, it recently lost one of its buttons. Fortunately, there was extra fabric below the collar (where the label was … Read more
I have a pillowcase that Lilo the cat decided would make a tasty treat back before she started her medication. She chewed the edging in two places. Instead of throwing it away or tossing it in the scrap heap, I decided to fix it. I used a seam ripper to remove the old binding. Then I ironed the fabric and pressed … Read more
I’m finally learning how to sew a blind hem, thanks to a sewing machine that is capable of doing them. A blind hem is called that because its stitches are barely visible from the surface of the garment, making the hem “invisible” or “blind.” Here’s the skirt I wanted to blind hem: Then it was time to do the blind hem. … Read more