Getting down to the mending!

I have been trying to save my wrists by avoiding crochet so what is a girl to do?

All these things have needed mending for a long time.

I am happy to think that this post will probably make most of you feel smug or amused when you see my efforts.

Anyone who has been following my blog for a while may have picked up on the fact that I don’t like sewing, mainly because I am not very good at it. However there are times when you just have to do it.

The first thing I tackled was my sun lounger.

When I was in my teens a friend of my mother’s had a sun lounger type chair that reclined in five different positions. I was very taken with this chair and so when I finally felt I could afford to treat myself to one I did. However in recent years it has been going holes on the under side. (It was a good price!)

I have repaired it already but have been putting off repairing this last hole.

It really needs doing as when I try to use it it sheds foam all over the place.

Here is a closer view of the hole.

As you can see the fabric of the underside is that funny sort of cheap stuff that likes to disintegrate. The fabric on the visible side is much better. I do hate it when something is still perfectly serviceable except for some cost cutting decision made in manufacture.

In the past I have been using pieces of curtain lining that came from shortening some curtains to repair the under side and I found that I had a piece left that was just about the right size.

So I got together the things that I needed.

I chose to use up a small amount of cotton on a sewing machine bobbin. The needle case was made for me by my brother when he was a child and the case was an old handbag that my mother used for sewing and knitting things she wanted to keep handy. Since I inherited it I have been doing the same.

I chose a large needle and started by tacking the fabric under the flap of patterned material then sewed across the middle. Being a bit clumsy I managed to prick myself but luckily no one will see the blood!

The large needle was less suitable for this part of the repair and so I changed to a smaller one. Even this was sometimes hard to push through so I resorted to using my mother’s thimble. I have never been one to use a thimble as they make me feel even more clumsy however this time it felt okay. I am using it on my middle finger is that correct?

Here you can see the finished repair. Not perfect perhaps but serviceable I hope.

Then I moved on to my socks.

I showed you these before.and I looked and looked but couldn’t find any of the original wool so I had to find something else.

I had this piece of sock wool from some more recent socks and decided that it would have to do.

I don’t have a darning mushroom but ever since my teens when I needed to darn anything I have used this.

I started with the smaller hole. It seemed that what was needed was some Swedish darning, and I used to think I was quite good at that, although it is best used for repairing a thin patch rather than a hole.

So here is what I achieved. A bit squiffy, easier to see this size, but I think it should make the socks wearable for a while longer.

Then I had a go with the other sock. Chose a greenish piece of yarn from another ball of sock wool.

Again, I bit hit and miss but hopefully will hold.

Looking at the earlier sock, I realised that the area at the back of the heel was so worn that all that was holding it together was the synthetic yarn added to make socks more durable. No photograph as I got down to the repair straight away. Interestingly the other sock of the pair is not as bad.

So I thought again about Swedish darning but when I started I realised that there was no way I could follow the tiny ins and outs: my eyes, co-ordination and concentration were all insufficient. So I decided to do something similar double the size. Here is the other side.

Not pretty but you can’t see the thin bit! Hopefully it will give the sock a little more life. But then it is one of the first pair of socks I made for myself, almost eight years ago. So I must have worn them well over a hundred times.

Lastly, I decided it was time that I got around to my trousers that have been hanging around for years, waiting for me to feel strong enough to have a go.

As you can see the hem of one leg has worn through due to them rubbing on the ground.

I took my courage in both hands and cut off the torn bit and then cut about half an inch off both legs and turned up a small hem pinned and tacked the hems and tried them on to check that they were not now too short.

Success!

So then I hemmed them, by hand as I only had a small amount of blue thread. Luckily there was just enough.

Yay! no more mending – for now at least.