Thursday, July 29, 2010

Manly Sewing OR Sewing for your Man

For myself and the male readers of my blog -Yes there are some! I call this "Manly sewing" For the ladies, it is Sewing for your Man.

So what do you do when a shirt collar frays? Like this:

Or worse- like this:


I hate it when that happens!  And honestly, I wear them to that point!  (Bad Gene, BAD!) 
But at some point, I just can't put it on anymore looking that ratty.  This shirt was at the "too ratty" point. 
And it was ONLY the collar.  The rest of the shirt is like new!  

What to do?

You could cut them up and use them as quilt scraps.  

But wait! 
Can't I get some more wear out of it first?  Especially since I like this shirt a lot and it is very comfortable.  (And I hate to have to shop for clothes!) 

So, I take my trusty seam ripper.  
I carefully separate the collar from the collar band  BEING CAREFUL to not cut into the band. 
Then once the collar is off, I shorten my stitch length to 1.8 or 1.6 and sew the pieces of the collar band back together MINUS the collar. 
Why?  

I get a NEW collarless shirt.  



No shopping, no extra cost.  AND I don't have to wear a tie with it.  Actually I CAN'T wear a tie with it. Ahhh!!! 

So, you say "My husband always wears a tie to work"  
How about casual days? 
How about with a nice pair of khakis or jeans on the weekend?
If he refuses, fine, cut it up and make a scrap quilt!  
But remember I tried to save his favorite dress shirt!

17 comments:

Pat said...

Great save...I see it's a Bill Blass wrinkle-free, so I can understand why it was comfy and also why you'd not want to cut it up when it could still be worn collarless. Good job! Now...any way we can salvage clothes that no longer fit (I think they SHRUNK somehow)???? :(

Unknown said...

i have a whole new spin on "manly sewing"...someone commented on my nephews picture and i said, i can't show that to his dad (my brother) he's such a MANLY man and it would be world war in NC.......and that makes me so mad...no sense in it....

luv2quilt2 said...

That's a great idea, and right in style. Years ago I actually made clothes for my husband, but good grief, men's clothing is difficult to make!

Barb said...

Now that is sooooooooooooooooooooooo clever!!

Kaye said...

Good thinking Gene, saved a good shirt!

Sue said...

That's so clever. I remember my dear old Mum turning collars on men's shirts but she also used to patch sheets and darn socks. Now that's too hard!

Tangos Treasures said...

Awesome save!

Kathleen said...

What a good idea!

Anonymous said...

Very clever!

ooglebloops said...

Great idea - and very fashionable!! I love the band collar look- even have a couple of very vintage men's shirts in that style!

Petit Design Co. said...

great idea Gene.

Chartreuse Moose said...

Yes, I agree with the comment on mom's who would gently remove the old collar...and turn it over...re-attach. Well remember this being done in my family. I'm sure this came from depression era frugality...and will still work today! I rather like your save a bit more...have always thought collars were a nasty invention!

sewfunquilts said...

Good for you! Yes, my Mom used to turn the collars of Dad's shirts, darn socks, mend clothes, let down hems, etc. I like your "no collar" approach better.....very stylish.

Micki said...

That was a smart thing to do...I love the colour of the shirt!
Micki

Quilting Lab said...

My mom also did the collar turning thing! I thought about it recently when one of my fav shirts became so frayed(wear in house for comfort)it was annoying. Just might try this for myself on the fav comfy shirt!! Thanks -- and husband gets spots or frays front(and keeps forever)!!!
Sherry

limpingalong said...

What a great idea -- Sweetie always has the collar tips fray -- think I will try this!

Stephanie Hughes said...

I love it Gene! Great idea. Now I know what to do with all these boys shirts in this family. I never thought of this. Steph