All clothing needs repair from time to time, regardless of your age and how careful you are.  But I have one child in particular who is very hard on his clothes – very.  I don’t know how it’s possible to rip every single pair of pants through the knees within such a short time, or to have brand new socks with holes after a couple of wearings,  but it’s a gift he has.  🙂  A few weeks ago he brought me a pair of pants that had a 6 or 7 inch gap at the knee, and asked me if I could fix them.  It seems that he had run out of pants that didn’t have holes (and you wouldn’t believe how many pairs I’ve bought for him!), and he needed something to wear. 

I told him I’d try my best, though usually I scrap his pants totally after he finishes them – it’s never felt worthwhile to try to repair such big rips.  So I pulled out another old pair of his pants, created a huge patch for this pair, and after sewing it neatly shut, added the patch behind it so it was double strength.  He happily accepted them back, not perfect but still looking good enough for every day wear.  And by lunch the next day, they were totally ripped through again.  Sigh.

I then suggested to him that he bring me something as soon as he sees it beginning to need a repair, instead of waiting until the garment is basically devastated.  I’ve told all of my kids this, but this time, he listened!  I gave him a new pair of pants a couple of weeks ago that were extra sturdy, and it took a full week and a half before he started to inflict damage on them (no, that’s not wearing the same pants every day).  But this time, he brought them to me as soon as he heard some stitches start to go. 

This makes a huge difference in being able to repair something and keep it looking new, instead having things worn down fast.  A small repair can quickly be taken care of, and no one is any the wiser to it having been fixed.  A large repair ends up taking significantly more time and energy, and after all of that work, often isn’t as nice to look at in the end.

Likewise, sometimes preventative efforts can extend the life of a garment – an example in this case would be strengthening the pants with a patch inside the knee before giving them to him to wear (old ripped pants are a good source of patches).  Many of the pants I buy him already come with this feature, and it adds a lot of durability to his clothing.

As the old saying goes, “A stitch in time saves nine.”  So true!

Avivah