the blue blog archives: FIX IT!

I loved that SNL skit from a few weeks ago where the financial guy keeps yelling "Fix it!" ("fix it" starts at about 4:30). Too funny! What's not so funny is the fact that the better my sewing gets, the more our clothes start to rip, tear, and fall apart, requiring me to fix it!

Last month, I sewed patches on six pairs of the boys pants and stitched up a huge rip hubby had in his favorite sweatpants. Last week, I secured a tear developing in the underarm of a t-shirt of mine and closed up three holes in some new store-bought gloves of the boys (the machine-made thumb gusset was a real weak spot!). Then I tackled this pretty little dress of wee one's.

This Splendid dress had been hanging in her closet for a couple of months waiting for her to be big enough for it (it's a 2T). Even though she's only 20 months now, she's plenty tall for a 2T these days, so I pulled the dress off the rack for its debut. As I tried to pull it over her, it quickly became clear that they had goofed up the sizing, because there was no way that neck was ever going to fit over her head. Trust me, I tried. (Poor girl.) The neck opening is simply too small, and while the fabric has a lot of stretch, unfortunately, the contrast trim along the neck has none. And there were no buttons to open the back or neck either. With no way to get it over a toddler head, the dress would be not only useless to us, but to anyone I might try to donate it to. Grrrr!

I decided that with nothing to lose, I would take apart one of the shoulder seams and attempt to sew on a few teeny tiny snaps. (I love this sort of 'nothing to lose' starting point. Just like in the case of my old sweater to dress project, is a great start for a sewing experiment!) There was about 1/8" of a seam allowance for me to place the snaps and I had to stitch them on to the thinnest cotton you can imagine. Ever have one of these Splendid garments? The cotton knit is the thinnest, softest, loveliest you've ever worn. Fabulous to put on, hell to secure something to. Somehow I got them on there. (I should mention that I am like completely snap retarded. I always, ALWAYS, sew the snap on upside down or put two prong sides across from each other. Doh!) I'm not sure it looks completely seamless, but since they are so small, I think we'll get away with it.

posted by alison at 12:48 pm | in sewn

Comments

I love that skit! My husband and I randomly text 'Fit It!' to one another now, lol.

I like your fix it solution too :D Next time, try the hammer in snaps. They come with a little snap applicator that helps prevents the two prong incidents from happening.

Posted by: Wanett at November 23, 2008 1:16 PM

I love that skit! My husband and I randomly text 'Fit It!' to one another now, lol.

I like your fix it solution too :D Next time, try the hammer in snaps. They come with a little snap applicator that helps prevents the two prong incidents from happening.

Posted by: Wanett at November 23, 2008 1:17 PM

Good fix-it on the cute stripey dress. Re: your moth eaten sweater (before ? you felt and cut it) a crafty friend of mine suggested needle-felting the holes then, on a plain sweater like yours, needle-felting a design on top. Another fix-it solution, but maybe not as cute as turning it into a 2T dress.

Posted by: Mary K. in Rockport at November 23, 2008 1:45 PM

I was looking at the adorable picture of wee one trying to imagine a human who would fit in the body of that dress while having a head small enough to fit through the neck.
It would be a freaky!

Posted by: BarbOutsideBoston at November 23, 2008 1:49 PM

Another cutie

Posted by: Darci at November 23, 2008 2:29 PM

Very nice solution.

Next time you can use a little grosgrain ribbon, twill tape, or even better fusible interfacing before you sew on the snaps. It will provide a stable backing for your snaps and they won't tear through the fabric. In fact, you might want to try it right now with a little something you have on hand and a few more stitches.

Posted by: Lauren at November 23, 2008 4:41 PM

Oh, no! Proceed with utmost caution! Many of those who live with knitting seamstresses and sewing knitters come to believe that mending is just as appealing as regular projects - very dangerous to one's knitting/sewing time!!! I fight this with my own brood regularly: "Ma, can you patch my favorite jeans?" "M, my favorite shirt needs a button on the sleeve and the collar." - Cuts into my project time considerably! I warn them that quilters "Don't do buttons" but they continue to assail me with their Fix It! needs. I say do a poor job of mending so that it doesn't begin to threaten truly creative moments!

Posted by: Melissa in Oklahoma at November 23, 2008 4:56 PM

Adorable dress. If you have a problem with the snaps holding on the thin fabric, you could try sewing some narrow seam binding to the wrong side & then sewing the snaps to that. What is it with children's clothing manufacturers? I bought some close fitting cotton knit jammies for Baby M for her BD. She is about average height but skinny (weighs about 20 lb at 2) so I got the 12-18 month size (largest they had) & they fit her fine except for the same small neck opening - you can get the top over her head but it's a struggle.

Posted by: Donna at November 23, 2008 5:04 PM

My kids have HUGE heads. When they were babies and toddlers, I couldn't put anything on over their heads--even clothes with shoulder snaps! I don't sew, so your solution wouldn't have worked for me, but it is brilliant.

Posted by: Suzanne V. (Yarnhog) at November 23, 2008 5:23 PM

I second Lauren's suggestion and Wanett's. I little twill tape or bias tape, sewn to the seam allowance, then hammer on snaps. There is also a clamp-type tool that one can purchase to apply snaps. Well done!

Posted by: Sandy at November 23, 2008 7:08 PM

Good save on the cute dress. Ditto Wanett, Lauren, and Sandy. Some sort of stabilizer such as twill or bias tape is helpful in such repairs. I have used snap tape with snaps already applied to twill tape, but I haven't looked for it lately.

Posted by: knitterlee at November 23, 2008 11:09 PM

Thanks for all the tips, everyone. I should have thought of adding some stabilizer. Snap tape is brilliant, knitterlee.

"Quilters don't do buttons." Too funny, Melissa! :D After my last week of repairing things (instead of making fabulous new things), I can totally see the danger of becoming the Fix-it gal.

Posted by: ALISON at November 24, 2008 8:43 AM

Okay, my SIL had this very same problem, with several pieces of clothing, so be prepared to encounter more small neck openings. We could never figure out how they expected the clothes to fit over their heads! My mom did the same thing with their clothes to repair this problem. Good job and hopefully you won't encounter too many neck openings like this.

Posted by: Annette at November 24, 2008 12:28 PM

Cute dress! And I love the idea of snap tape. I, too, always do the snaps wrong the first time.

Posted by: Seanna Lea at November 24, 2008 1:47 PM

You were on the right track with the snaps in the shoulder seam idea.

Next time try Snap Tape. I used to use it a lot when I sewed for my 20-something kids years ago. I did a lot of snap leg pants when they were babies and used it on placket closings on knit shirts. It comes in a variety of snap sizes and is a great item to have.

check out this site:

http://www.yhe.com/products_infant.htm

Posted by: Sandee at November 25, 2008 2:26 PM