When Ready to Wear is NOT!

We found this cute all cotton shirt while back to school shopping. In the dressing room, we also noticed that two buttons were missing and one extra came with the shirt. The salesperson offered a 10% discount as is. The style and fabric are difficult to mimic so a purchase was made. The discount did not even cover the cost of the thread and buttons purchased to make the garment wearable. Never the less, it provided a great opportunity to practice thread and button matching as well as handsewing. Of course, an exact button match could not be found so we moved the cuff buttons to the front of the shirt and replaced the cuff buttons with clear buttons.

Hem, hem, Hooray!!

Several days ahead of schedule, I managed to hem 3 pairs of pants for my college bound daughter. I was surprised to see the difference in the stitching. One pass was done from the inside and one from the top. The topstitched side looks remarkably better.

One of A Kind Jeans

Changing the button on your favorite jeans can extend the life of the jeans. Whether the button falls off on its own or you just want to change it, the steps are fairly simple. Remove the old button and find another one that it the same size so that it will work well in the button hole. Use iron-on jean patch to support where the button will be sewn. Cut the patch material so that it is just large enough to support the hole made by the previous button. After ironing the patch on both sides you can zigzag the edges so there won't be a tendancy for the patch to curl. The patches will not show as the waistband with the button hole covers the wasitband with the button. Sew on the new button.