craftynell

I do Hubby's pants. He does so much for me & love him dearly.

skothing

I love this thread! I use to alter clothes but no more. A co worker ripped his pocket on his jeans and threw them out of the restroom and said he needed them repaired. I was working on a quilt for a raffle, for another co worker who had cancer. I was in shock, but did it. NO PAY. Later a fellow quilter shared her standard reply. My machine doesn't do that kind of work. They always ask do you need a special machine to do that? Her reply is at my house you do!

By the way, the same guy asked me to shorten his 60 pairs of jeans into shorts. $5 each stopped him in his tracks. No more pleas.

Rose_P

I don't mind at all doing little mending or hemming tasks for family members once in awhile, but would not want to make a living at it. Recently my DH brought home three pairs of new shorts that came a little too far over his knees and would interfere with his golf swing. I didn't mind shortening them, but they were three different colors. I started by locating the right thread and filling all 3 bobbins. I felt quite pleased that I didn't have to go buy any, at least. Then just after I finished the last hem I realized that I'd managed to proceed from the blue pair to the green without remembering to change my thread. The blue was almost gray and the green was light, so it didn't show up much, but just enough that there's no way I would have let them leave my sewing room like that. So then two more rounds with the seam ripper. I was thinking it was a lot like doing 4 pairs instead of 3, except I had been curious enough to time myself on one pair: 38 minutes. More than half of the job is the measuring, ironing and pinning, which I did not have to do over. The sewing is the easy part, especially if you get it right the first time. DH has been wonderfully helpful to me, especially since he retired. I figure that doing a presentable job on this little chore is the least I could do.

I have noticed over the years that almost every little chore we do that might seem burdensome seems less so to me after I know exactly how long it's likely to take me. Some things are shockingly trivial, such as loading and unloading a dishwasher - almost always under 5 minutes, no matter how big the load. I think clock-watching in this sense might be a good habit to teach kids who want to argue about chores. If they realize how little time is actually involved they might be more willing.

Stitchnripper

I don't mind mending but it is a different ball game than quilting. I can't do alterations other than simple hems. I have mended odd things for the grandchildren - backpacks, stuffed animals, etc. Rose_P - I hate emptying the dishwasher even though it does only take 5 minutes. Luckily Mr. Stitchnripper doesn't mind so I save it for him.

misseva

If my husband hadn't died just short of our 45th - we would have celebrated our 59th July 19th. AND I hemmed all of his pants because he needed a 29" pant leg and they were almost impossible to find.