What does it mean if it takes a person several months to get some mending organized? Perhaps she is distracted?
My gray linen shirt, which I have worn to work for easily ten years, is wearing out. I went through an elbow. Wish I’d caught it before I went entirely through the fabric. A worn spot would have been an easier and stronger mend. As it was, I think I wore it to work twice before I noticed the flapping fabric at the elbow, and was faced with the task of weaving together a three cornered tear.
But the shirt must be preserved, for a bit longer anyway. I must find something comparable to the gray linen to patch with, and it’s off to Stone Mountain Daughters, the only purveyor of honest-to-god, 100% linen in the East Bay, or so I believe.
Of course I did not take the shirt with me to shop. That would have made too much sense, but I found two pieces of linen woven of black and white thread together, a very common technique for making grays: one of them more black, the other more white, thinking that one of them would be suitably complimentary. Worked out well enough when I finally sat down to it.
Goodness. In the photo here, it’s all just gray together. You have to trust me: under the the silk twist is bright and white and the other is wrinkly and blackish gray. But my materials are collected.
A distracted person can angst over the cutting of an oval. Did you know that?
I mean, it’s involved, or can be, if you’re distracted. First you have to make a paper oval: several actually, to see what size gives you optimal coverage without being, you know, overbearing, tacky. When you’ve settled on the size, shall the patch be hemmed or raw-edged? A nice close blanket stitch will make a raw edge perfectly safe … except on an elbow. Elbows in the office get a lot of wear. Such a thing would ravel.
So, hemming curves. There’s something a distracted person can angst over. I decided I needed some stabilizing fabric to turn the hem over … interfacing … and back to the store we go. They didn’t have black woven interfacing, and I’m not using that non-woven stuff with the glue bubbles on it. An abomination, that is. I made do with the white.
And now, now, I can sit down to it. A project in Boro-Couture. I basted before I sewed. That’s couture. And I strengthened and embellished the patch with a running stitch. That’s Boro. (A philosophy of Japanese mending very hot just now. See YouTube.) A running stitch in black silk buttonhole twist that I purchased over the internet from Burley & Trowbridge. You don’t get no black silk buttonhole twist from Joann’s … if Joann’s still existed. You get to go all Jane Austenian over the internet, from a purveyor touted by the YouTube historical costumers I spend a lot of time with.
The Frankenstein stitching down the center was a bad idea, but I’m not picking it out. The rest of it went too happily to be messed with in any way. The patches are on.
And I want to go further. I will embroider on the shirt. I have the fondest memory of a brown denim top I made in my youth, which had a crewel embroidered flower in the traditional brooch position. I will make another fond memory of the gray linen shirt, before I wear it entirely away.
Considering that I have not done much crewel embroidery since the brown denim top, and used the material already purchased, I am happy with my flower. I will get more colors and it will have company.
Viney flowered tendrils every which where. I took delivery of a new book today: Creative Stitching by Sue Spargo with lots of inspiration in it.
I have another top with elbows to patch. This one I put away many months ago. It is a winter-time tunic, also black and white making gray, but more wooly looking, though I do believe it is some synthetic wooliness. Anyway, I love it, and as soon as the elbows started to look thin-ish, I put it away. It’s been put away for well over a year, because, well, those ovals … they are daunting.
An Old Knitty Lady 