My Mother's Day present

My son came over for Mother's Day on Sunday with presents: two pairs of pants for me to mend.

At first glance that sounds awful, kind of like the husband who gives his wife a new vacuum cleaner for Valentine's Day, but I was delighted since I love to mend, and that's how I spent a bit of Monday afternoon.

I always inspect the garments before agreeing to take them on, and these were eminently mendable.  I won't do zipper replacements or socks, but I particularly enjoy reinforcing knees and seats where the fabric is getting thin and holey.  Especially if said garments are brought to me before they have actually shredded.

One was so easy I almost couldn't take credit for it.  The pants came with a pre-reinforced seat (great design) and all I had to do was restitch the seam.

The other was in worse shape and my son apologized, saying that these were his favorite pants, otherwise he would just pitch them. He said it didn't have to be beautiful but would be so happy to get another season of wear.  I had mended them before when the crotch seam came apart, and that mend was holding up beautifully.  But now the entire seat back was getting thin enough to read the newspaper through.

I backed the entire area with heavyweight fabric (the part that wasn't printed with SURF had been the back for a piece that I had just quilted last week, so it was still lounging about the work table) and stitched it down enthusiastically with lots of back-and-forths.

Not exactly good as new -- it's better than new.