Do you mend?

As the best sewer in the family, I've often downplayed my ability to mend or alter lest I become the go-to person for any mending. In fact, if I do any mending for my kids or hubs' clothes, I do it in secret. <giggle> So it is quite rare for me to receive any mending/alteration requests.

Recently, hubs received his McDonald's pyjamas. Hubs writes a fortnightly humour column for a free paper. He had bought it when he wrote this column.

The shirt fitted him but the top button was far too low and it revealed a lot of skin. Hubs likes to keep his chest completely covered so he presented the problem to me. Could I solve it for him? Since hubs had gone to so much trouble to get the pyjamas, I thought I'll help him out. My daughter said I should get paid $20 for the job and hubs agreed. Anyway, I thought of using metal snaps to solve the problem. It took me 5 mins.

Here he is happily wearing it to work.

After the success of my McDonald's pyjamas job, hubs presented me with his running singlet which had come undone. You see what's happening? I'm the go-to person for mending now. What have I done? Anyway, the singlet was made (by the factory people) using fusible to glue the pieces together. Same for the hem. We don't sort our laundry by hot or cold water (everything is washed with warm water) so over time, the glue has dissolved. Could I solve the problem?

Initially I wanted to reject the job. The singlet was 100% polyester and very thin. I've never sewn on such material before and I was pretty sure I would fail because I have no spare fabric to test the stitches and tension on. But it became an interesting challenge for me so I accepted the job. Hubs offered $10 and I didn't think to ask for more.

I looked through my machine needle stash (yes, we all have one right?) and found the perfect needle to use. 60/8 sharp and I was right. It sewed so smoothly I was amazed. Guys, use this needle for tightly woven fabric. I'm impressed. The brand is Klasse' if you're wondering.

I had to sew on the wrong side because the fusible made it hard to move the fabric. So you're looking at the bobbin thread on the right side.

I used my precious Aurifil thread to reduce friction on his skin. If this singlet falls apart again, I'm throwing it into the bin.