The Pile

I seem to always have this pile. It follows me around. I had it when I lived with my parents. I had it when I was in college. I have it now that I'm married.

It's my mending pile.

I know that doesn't sound terribly manly but sometimes there are things that develop holes, or get little tears, or lose buttons, etc. and I am just not willing to let go that easy.

So this week, rather than do some cool project like make a sword, or build furniture, or what have you, I decided to work on this pile.

This time the pile included two pairs of pants, two pairs of shorts, a heel that fell off its shoe, a set of sheets that we bought to turn into curtains, a second unfinished Chewbacca pillow, and at the very last minute... the shirt off my back.

Now before I go any further I should mention that two of those items are projects in their own right... and that I didn't finish everything.

The first thing I went for was the heel that fell of the shoe. I figured I might as well start with the item that would have to dry. I basically just smeared some glue on there, stuck the heel back on, applied a lot of pressure, and wiped off the excess.



I used this construction adhesive that I got from work 
because it was damaged and they were going to throw
it out. It's a really strong adhesive but I wouldn't
recommend it because it takes forever to set up.


The next was a pair of shorts that I made from a pair of pants. You may remember that I didn't do the hem the way it should have been done so I had to go back and fix it.

Here's the before.



Here's the after. Much cleaner and tucked away.


Next I moved on to a pair of shorts I got from a cousin (why did I do the shorts first when it's winter?!).

Awkward hole...



Wrong color thread, but meh, no one should be looking that closely.



Next up was this super comfy pair of cords.



They have clearly seen better days.



This strip of cloth brings it right together!



As good as new!



My mom found these really nice grey jeans for me... that flair so much they look like bell bottoms.



I've drawn a line where I'll be sewing them.



Sewn.



I was pretty happy with the seam.


I tried to work on the curtains...

I got the sheets all cut and ready to be sewn, but something
wonky was going on that I couldn't figure out how to fix.
I think this fabric was just plain too thin.

This morning I had an excellent stretch that felt wonderful but apparently was a bit too stressful to my shirt. A loose button fell off. As soon as it did I put a paperclip in the exact spot so I would be able to find it later.



Yeah, I'm a genius.



The closest thread I had was black. Apparently I need to stock up on more color varieties.



My complete mending table.


So I didn't finish my black pants (which have oddly enough been in the pile the longest), the Chewbacca pillow, or the curtains. I might just let it spill over into next week, but I do have something else I want to work on too that I'm kind of excited about and hope it works out.

Later days.