Mending travel pants

As usual, just as I was about to open the October meeting of the WES Group, I checked my phone for last minute apologies or messages, only to see, on the screen, a message from my friend Ken: I think we are close to "end of life treatment".

My heart almost stopped as I opened the message, to find it was accompanied by the photo on the left.  He was referring to his travel pants, which I have mended numerous times before!

End of life? The message took a few minutes off mine, but the trousers will continue for a while yet  if I have anything to do with it!

I picked them up last week after eating the very good Vegetable Bake with Sausages, that Ken had cooked (with many questions about temperature and timing). The next day I dug out some of the batik I have used before for the same purpose. Placing a large piece on the inside of the pants, I machined around the tear on the outside, then appliqué the piece down on the inside. The original orange cotton is too thin to patch the outside only.

I could then patch the outside with more of the batik fabric, matching the pattern to where I'd patched last time.

Unfortunately, there is wear and tear on other parts of the trousers as well, particularly the waist and the cuffs.

These took more thought, and a good deal of bias tape, which I happened to have in a reasonable colour match.

I added a bias tape edge to the cuffs, and triangles of batik to the seam, where the stitching was pulling apart and fraying.

The wear at the waist was a a bit more of a challenge, with three rows of elastic to contend with. However, the bias tape fitted neatly over each row of elastic, so I stitched it by hand over the front section of the waistband, which was the most worn. (top 2 sections on photo on left show before, bottom section shows fix).  Ken has suggested hanging the trousers on the wall as an exhibit. While I can go on adding batik patches to the whole of the original fabric until there is no more orange left, I admit the wear around the waist has me worried.

The current fix will suffice for a few more wears but I'm not sure how possible or effective it will be to cover the whole waistband should it continue to wear, which, of course, it will.

My granddaughters think this is a definite improvement on the original orange - but that I should teach Ken how to mend them himself!

I’m always up for a challenge, but that, I think, is beyond my skill level! 

Impossibilities? Certainly. Miracles ? Probably not.

Advent Calendar

 

A year or so ago I bought a container of Christmas fabric from the Guild trading table and made most of it into bags. Amongst the fabric was a panel for an Advent calendar, which I set aside. Brigid thought she might use an Advent calendar in her shared home this year, so I made it up. 

The panel (which I forgot to photograph before cutting!) consisted of a Father Christmas face and numbered squares on  the top half, and a series of numbered squares to be cut out on the bottom. The instructions were printed on the panel margin.

I began by getting out my bead tins and adding a bit of bling. 

I didn't go for broke - just added a few beads or sequins to each square, enough to sparkle a little. I worked from the bottom of the panel up, cutting each row out after I had added beads. 

                

I then folded and ironed all the hem margins inwards and ironed interfacing to the backs. I had some strong cotton interfacing, but the adhesive wouldn't take, so I moved to a gauzier one which ironed easily.

I  machine stitched each square across the top, then, one by one, pinned and stitched them the panel to form pockets.

  

 It took a while, and I did quite a bit of ironing. The numbering made placement easy, and the gold outlines on the squares helped.

I found an appropriate piece of backing fabric, and some soft polyester wadding. Lining it all up was a bit challenging, as the wadding was only just big enough. (Finished size is approx 60x65cm. )

It did, however, work well.   

For once I followed instructions, and bound the edge with bias binding before  I quilted around the pockets  and Santa's head.

I had a whole roll of 1/2" red bias binding. It would have been easier to work with wider tape, but I persevered to use what I had. The narrow edge looks good, I think, but it did take patience to apply.

I used the green fabric border strip from the bottom of the original panel to form the channel for a rod at the back of the top edge.               

I had in  mind to use a bamboo stake I had on my balcony as a rod. It proved to be about 18cm too long. My efforts to cut it with my Stanley knife came to nought, so I headed to Bunnings to look for shorter stakes - or a saw! A bundle of 60cm bamboo stakes proved to be just too short.     

I found my solution  in the blinds section of Bunnings - an expandable curtain rod. It was 60cm contracted, but expanding it about 10cm provided a perfect length for the calendar.

A ribbon loop, and voila!

It rolls up neatly and there was enough backing fabric to make a bag to keep it in. All it needs now is contents for the pockets - maybe a pack of Haigh's Advent Calendar chocolates?