Mending Well-Worn Shirts & Pyjamas

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 10, 20 October 1948, Page 3

Mending Well-Worn Shirts & Pyjamas

Gardening and rougher duties mean harder wear for shirts but good material is always worth mending. The front of a shirt often wears out first as it gets dirtier and needs more scrubbing. If there is a slit draw the edges together with fishbone stitch then back the slit with tape and darn over it. II the shirt is too worn for this treatment to be satisfactory then it is best to cut new dicky-fronts from the tail. Cut the pattern in paper first, place it on the tail of the shirt then reverse it and cut another shape from the opposite side. If you can match the stripes, so much the better. To add the new front first unpick the collar for about 4in and the shoulder for about 3in. Tack each new front in place then stitch it down and restitch the collar and shoulder seams again taking in the new edges. Re-

move the tacking threads. Neaten the back of the patch by cutting away the worn material and hemming the raw edges. Next replace the material cut away from the shirt-tails by similar material cut from a discarded shirt—it does not matter if the pattern is not the same. • The backs of sleeves and shoulders are often the first parts to show signs of wear and tear in pyjama coats. The neatest way to mend this part is to cut a patch to cover the shoulder and well over the tear in the back of the sleeve. If you have no matching materialise soft sheeting, cotton or linen instead. Tack the patch on the wrong side of the I coat taking care that it covers the worn part. Stitch the patch in place either by machine, handfelling or herringboning. On the right side darn the torn part 'neatly taking the stitches through the patch making the darn diamond shaped so that the pull on the threads is well distributed. Pyjama coats often split right down the centre back. It is no use adding a long narrow patch as the same thing ydll probably .happen again. The wisest way of coping with this tear is to add a new yoke. If you have matching material add the new yoke on the right side and take care to match the stripes where possible. You need not cut away the worn part underneath as it, will give extra strength. Any tears' can be neatly darned. If you use odd material place the patch on the wrong side so, that it will not show. Darn any tears neatly on to the new patch.