THE HOME DRESSMAKER

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 91, 11 January 1935, Page 4

THE HOME DRESSMAKER

XII. —Patching, Darning and Mending

(By

S.O.)

You may say what you like about it being nothing to do witli the case, but patching, darning and mending have a very close affinity to the other branches of the art of sewing practised by the home dressmaker. If you can make your own frocks you are a pearl of some price; if you cun make your husband's shirts you will not be popular with the factory owners, but your price will be high in the proper quarters; but if you can mend the household garments ami the linen, your worth will be above rubies. 1 expect the quotation part of that sentence is not good, but its meaning is clear I hope. So to-day, for the last of these talks, we will take a look at the repairing processes more generally needed for the keeping of the family wearing apparel, and the linen, in order. There is, for instance, patching, which is the replacing of a worn part of material by a new piece. The method to be adopted depends on the part where the patch is to be placed and on the kind of material to be patched. A patch should be as invisible as possible, and the patch-bag, in which scraps of every article made at home are kept, for a time at least, will be found an invaluable ally in this work. You can have great fun in contriving the matching of a pattern or check or stripe, or even of the weave of a plain material, when you are adjusting the patch. Materials with a pile or nap should brush the same way in both the patch and the material to be mended. Always wash new material before using it to patch old fabric, in case of shrinkage pulling the patch out of place. Always make a patch large enough to more than cover the weak portion to be mended so that there is not too much strain on the weak part, which will cause the patch to drag away from it. To patch flannel, place the worn gar-

ment right side down on the sewing I able, and lay the patch over the worn part, also with its right side downfacing the wrong side of the garment. Have Hie threads of both patch and ■■■arment material running the same ?vay. Taek the patch in jiosition -j inch from the edge, and herringbone the natch to the garment all round, beginning at the lower left hand corner, and being careful to take the upper stitches through both patch and garment material and the lower statches through the garment material.only. A patch on calico or print or linen is adjusted in the same way, but tl'.e edve of the patch is turned under, and it is sewn neatly to the garment. Then turn the garment to the right side, cut away the worn part to within 3-8 inch of the hemming stitches. Turn the edges in, and hem again. Snip the coiners so that your corners will be perfect right angles. This sort of patching is used for the worn part of sheets and other household linen. Darning is really weaving, for new threads of matching yarn or silk or cotton are used for reinforcing worn parts of material and for filling actual holes. The thread used must be suitable in colour, thickness, and texture, to the material which is to be darned. Linen on linen, cotton on cotton, wool ou wool, and so on. Take, threads of the material itself from close to the selvidge, where possible. Pass the threads alternately over and under another set of threads, alternating with each row. Work from left to right so that the hand does not cover the work tts the darning proceeds. The workshould be as inconspicuous as possible, and with practice and ingenuity can be made invisible in woollen materials. The little round holes burnt by cigarette sparks in your best golf skirts can be dealt with in this manner, with most satisfactory results.