Challenge Rule 5: Repair and Mend, Alter as Necessary

I come from a crafty family. When we were little, our mother used to make our clothes. I thought this was completely normal. I mean, Ramona Quimby’s mother made her clothes. (I was reminded of this recently because I’ve been reading the Ramona series by Beverly Cleary to my boys.)

For this reason, I am not afraid of a sewing machine. And although my skills may not be as advanced as my mother’s, I can pin well enough and sew a straight line enough to alter my own clothes. I rarely spend very much money on any one piece of clothing, so really, if altering can help me love something, then I will do it proudly. But since I didn’t spend much on it, I won’t feel terrible if I ruin it in the process!

I have also come face to face with the reality that some of my favorite clothes (handknit sweaters, notably), are aging and either I repair them or I ditch them. I have chose the repair route.

This part of the challenge will be the most time consuming, because I have a pile of things that need to get fixed about a mile high, not to mention the holes I discover daily in my favorite sweaters, which I fix over breakfast.

In preparation for this challenge, I bought myself a little sewing kit for Christmas with sixty different color threads. I actually had the thought this better last until the day I die. Sixty spools of thread is a lot of thread.

Key Performance Indicator

I will mend at least one item per day over the next year and keep a note of it, so I know how long the repair lasts. As the year progresses, I will improve my mending/darning skills so that my repairs last longer.