Mending
Every person should know how to make a few basic repairs when it comes to clothing. You never know when a button will just pop off or when a hem will come out of a skirt you are wearing. Having a small personal mending kit is important to have. You can choose to put it into a small plastic container or use an old pencil case. Here are some items to put into your kit:
- pin cushion
- scissors—only use these for material and sewing
- seam ripper
- measuring tape
- a few miscellaneous buttons
- safety pins
- needles—to thread
- thimble—if you are going to push a needle through anything thick you definitely want one of these
- stitch witchery—sometimes you don’t have time to sew. That is when you will use Stitch Witchery. You put the tape between the two items that you want to stick together, use a hot iron, and they are stuck together. Great for quick hems.
- ball head pins-sometimes you are going to have to hold something together with pins while you work on it. The colored head pins make it easier to spot if you were to accidentally drop them on the floor.
- thread—start with the basics a black, white and tan colored thread.
Repairing a hem
While running out the door you notice that the hem has come loose on your skirt or pants, what do you do? A real quick fix would be to use a safety pin and hold the fallen part into place. The second easy fix would be to put a strip of Stitch Witchery and iron it in between the two pieces of fabric. The third option would be to hand sew it to fix it.
Begin by ironing the skirt or pant leg that needs to be fixed. It is hard to try and sew a straight line when your fabric is all wrinkly. Take note of how the hem is around the clothing. It should fold up with a small fold and then a larger fold. Iron each fold to make it stay flat. If you skip this step, your material is likely going to roll on you and you will have an uneven hem. Take the time to do it. Then do a simple running stitch to the area.
