Sewing and mending 2

Sewing and mending 2

Repairing a seam

This is how to repair a small gap in a seam, working from the right side

of the garment:

1 Press the seam open, align the folded edges and pin.

Sew the folded edges together by taking a small stitch along one

folded edge and then along the other.

3 Keep the stitches right on the folded edges so they are barely visible

as the edges are drawn together.

4 Avoid pulling the stitches too tight. This will keep the seam flexible

and protect it from splitting again.

5 Use an iron and damp cloth to steam the seam.

Protect hems from wear and tear

Iron-on hem tape is quite stiff and may prevent pants or a skirt from

hanging properly. In order to protect hems, sew on seam binding as

follows:

1 Wearing your regular shoes to try on the skirt or pants, mark the line

of the new hem with chalk or pins. Fold up the hem and lightly iron in

place.

2 Lay the seam binding along the raw edge of the hem so about

1/16

inch (1 mm) protrudes beyond the edge. Machine sew the binding to

the raw edge.

3 Hand sew the top edge of the binding to the wrong side of the pants

or skirt.

Quick help

• Spray the end of thread with hairspray so it passes through the eye of
the needle easily.
• Stop runs in knitted fabric by adding a little clear nail polish or glue.
But bear in mind that you won’t be able to sew them later, so use this
technique only when you have no other option.
• Rub zippers that stick with beeswax.
• Replace elastic in waistbands or elsewhere by fastening the new
elastic to the old with a safety pin. As you pull the old one out, the new
one is pulled in.
• Rub thread with beeswax to make it more durable.

If you don’t have the same color of thread, choose a shade darker

than the original, never lighter.

• Use new shoelaces to make loops for hanging heavy jackets. Cut

them to the appropriate length and attach them with strong thread

inside the collar.

How to darn

Stitch over then under the hole in the first undamaged row to form parallel

threads lengthwise.

Weave parallel threads running crosswise through the lengthwise threads

until the hole is filled.