Adventures In (a few more of my favorite) Random Things
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In no particular order:
A million years ago, a co-worker gave me a piece of advice that I still use successfully to this day. Everyone who buys an African violet plant in bloom and then is sad when it never blooms again, please listen up:
Never water them from the top. Ever.
Set the pot on a bed of gravel inside a larger pot, and make sure that there is water just above the gravel. This waters the plant from beneath. I have five African violet plants currently, and they all bloom 2-3 times per year.
Yes, this is actually how I feel about my yarn stash. Did I say stash? I meant hoard.
Because I just can’t get enough of mending, here’s another method for you. I will preface this with the note that if I hadn’t chose laziness over shortening these jeans to the proper length when I first got them, this repair would not have been necessary. But since I didn’t, I continued to occasionally step on the bottom edge, which naturally frayed over time. I chose a very simple repair solution, which would also shorten the jeans so that this did not happen again. I started by using some very sharp fabric scissors to cut just above the very visible hem seam, which gave me a mostly straight edge.
Then I used my overcast foot and the overcast stitch to secure the raw edge. You could also use a zigzag stitch with the overcast foot. If you don’t have one of these presser feet, you should really invest in one. They are not expensive and they are endlessly useful, especially if you don’t have a serger.
Next, I turned up my raw edge to the desired length (in my case, about half an inch) and pressed it. Then I just sewed it down with a regular straight stitch, using the hump jumper to get over the side seams. I did not use a bright orange thread color to match the original. I don’t think my stitching looks so awesome that it needs to be highlighted. I just used matching thread. Et voila! A tidy new hem on jeans that are now an appropriate length for my short legs.
In celebration of cake (and really, dessert in general), I present:
And finally, a little knitwear tool that is super handy even if you are not a knitter. It’s called the Gleener, and it removes all the pilling that is making your knitwear look old and worn. For the example in the photos, I used a black vest that I knit many years ago. I rather wish I’d chosen a different garment, as it’s a little hard to see the effect on this dark fabric, but this was the garment that needed attention.
The Gleener has two sides: one side is a stiff fabric with a very strong nap. In one direction (against the nap), it will brush off things like fuzz and animal hair. Run your fingers with the nap, and all that debris comes off in your hand. The other side has a sort of grate over a pumice stone. Most fabric stones are just a block of pumice and while they do take off the pills, they also rub against the fabric and wear it down. The Gleener’s grate prevents this, letting only the pills through the grate to catch on the stone. It’s very effective. And extremely satisfying.
Before and after:
