What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[igorsMistress]

Thanks. We still have about 2 feet of snow out in the yard, but today it hit a high of 60F and the snow if melting fast. Another week or two of warm weather and I might be back into the compost sifting business for the spring.

I’m already working on a tan. It’s shorts and tank top weather here.

 

[NanaK]

I have seen fungus gnats from store bought mixes too. Some stores here have the large bags outside and they get wet. This I believe is the cause. So I find I have to be careful of them either way.

Ahh, shorts weather here until this last (I hope) cool spell. Supposed to be back in the 80's in a couple days.

 

[gtaus]

I just blew out the backside of one of my favorite work blue jeans. It was a Wrangler jean with lots of pockets and hoops to hang tools on and such. After many years, it just wore too thin and last night, while working out in my unheated garage, I felt a chill running down my leg! What the heck?! Turns out the jeans split wide open just below the back pocket of my right leg.

Dear Wife says the jeans are going to get tossed. Well, probably so. But I thought I would ask here if jeans split wide open under the back pocket can be saved? If not, any ideas of a second life for the jeans? I mean, the legs and most of the other parts of the jeans are still good. Could that blue jean material be used for something else?

FYI, I bought these jeans, used, at our local thrift store about 5 years ago for only $2.25. They were not brand new but were in good shape. I have used them a lot and got my money's worth out of them long ago.

You know, there are a lot of young women and teenagers running around with brand new expensive jeans that are pre-ripped and faded. Some of those jeans are ripped in places where I would think modesty would prevent a person from wearing them out in public. Having said that, I asked Dear Wife if my genuinely old, faded, and ripped jeans are hip today and would anyone really care if my old man underwear was seen through the rip much like the young girls are wearing their jeans today flashing their undergarments?

Dear Wife said I would not be in fashion no matter what I wore and that my ripped jeans were headed to the trash. Turns out that my old worn and ripped jeans are considered garbage whereas new jeans that are pre-faded and ripped are not!

Well, more seriously, these were like my favorite work jeans because of all the extra tool pockets and hoops for hammers and such to hang on. So, if anyone knows if they can be patched, or how to patch them, I'd be willing to try it just because I liked those jeans so much. Even if it's only for working jeans at home, out in the yard, I would be OK with that. Not too concerned about the looks, obviously, but hate to lose all those tool pockets.

EDIT: OK, I found a Google picture of the type of rip I have under the right back pocket of my blue jeans. Obviously, this is not me. But the rip is the same. Can my jeans be patched?

 

[saysfaa]

.... Can my jeans be patched?

Unfortunately, no. There isn't anything solid to sew the mend or patch to, it will just rip out where the new seam is. Iron on patches will take longer to rip out than stitches but aren't practical either, even for nostalgia reasons. They aren't big enough and are difficult to install in that area, aren't flexible enough to be comfortable in that part of the jeans (they sometimes work well for knees if you apply them before the denim wears thin). Because they are so much less flexible than the denim, the denim rips along the edges of the patch.

You might be able to save the function of at least some of the loops and pockets by converting it to a tool belt.

 

[gtaus]

Unfortunately, no. There isn't anything solid to sew the mend or patch to, it will just rip out where the new seam is. Iron on patches will take longer to rip out than stitches but aren't practical either, even for nostalgia reasons. They aren't big enough and are difficult to install in that area, aren't flexible enough to be comfortable in that part of the jeans (they sometimes work well for knees if you apply them before the denim wears thin). Because they are so much less flexible than the denim, the denim rips along the edges of the patch.

You might be able to save the function of at least some of the loops and pockets by converting it to a tool belt.

That's too bad. I guess I'm off to start looking for some more work jeans from the thrift store. I have leather tool belts, but sometimes it's just nicer to have all those pockets on the jeans themselves. But thanks for letting me know that these jeans are not able to be patched.

So, now I'm thinking of cutting up the jean material and using it for something else. Like maybe a roll up storage pouch for my saw blades or wrenches. Maybe using the legs as a draw bag to keep something organized or parts all together in one package. There should be some use for all that jean material instead of just tossing it into the garbage can.

 

[gtaus]

Remove the back-right patch pocket and sew it back on six inches lower. Nobody will notice.

Unfortunately, the rip on the leg is wider than the pocket. So, I don't think that would work.

But your idea has given me the thought that I might be able to remove the back pockets from that jeans and sew them on another pair of jeans that have a ripped back pocket. If that is possible, then maybe I can remove the extra tool pockets and hoops from that pair of ripped jeans and sew them on to another pair of jeans that are good, but don't have all the extra pockets!

That would be a nice way to rebuild a new pair of work jeans out of my old jeans.

@saysfaa, would it work to remove the tool pockets and hoops from my work jeans and sew them on another pair of jeans?

Of course, the only problem now is that I have no sewing skills. I'll have to see if Dear Wife will be willing to show me how to use her sewing machine. She does not sew much either, but will hem up her pants if they are too long.

I was very glad I took shop class when I was in school, but I wish that boys were also allowed to take Home Economic classes to learn stuff like sewing and cooking as well. When I went to school, we were not allowed to take those Home Economic classes with the girls and the girls were not allowed to take shop class with the boys.

I think things have improved and all children are now allowed to learn those life skills regardless of their gender.

 

[saysfaa]

It wouldn't hurt to try. Get a seam ripper ($5 ish). Use it to open the seams at the loops.

Ideally, you would open the seams of the next pair of jeans, insert the ends of the loops and resew the seams. Edit to add, its probably better in this case to sew the loops to the outside of the replacement jeans.

The seams are currently sewn with a serger sewing machine. That is why each seam has so many threads. Don't worry about that (this just a heads up that what you do won't look the same).

The loops will be four layers and the seams of the jeans will be four layers. I wouldn't try it on my sewing machine.

If you want to try and your Dear Wife shows you how to use the sewing machine, practice on some thinner cotton fabric (like the thinness of a new bed sheet) before attempting denim. And practice on some two layers of denim, then four layers, then two layers with the ends folded in the make a ridge of four layers at one end of your seam. You will need a special needle for the sewing machine.

For this project, I would use hand sewing needles called "quilting betweens." These are a good length: both to reach through the thicknesses and short enough to get good leverage. And don't bend as easily, at least if you get the bigger diameters (size 3 or 4 should be good). Singer and Dritz are reputable brands. You could try whatever your Dear Wife has, as long as it is "quilting" or "sharp" (as opposed to "ball" with has a rounded point to go through knit fabric.)

I would sew one end of the loop to one side of the (new) jeans and the other end of the loop to the other side of the jeans - offsetting them so one end of the loop is above the other end when it is done.

Repeat the first couple of stitches several times and the last couple to anchor the thread.

Small (short) stitches are stronger. Zigzag is stronger. Multiple passes are stronger. Overlapping stitches are stronger. Combinations of the above strategies are stronger than more the same type. Don't be too worried about what it looks like.

You will want want a thimble.

 

[saysfaa]

Actually, it would be better to not open the seams of the new jeans. Sew one end of the loop to the outside of the jeans- one end back from the side seam and the other forward from the side seam. I would still offset them... lol, or start that way and see how it goes.

I've done a lot of patches on knees of jeans and some mending of rips but not adding loops.

 

[gtaus]

It wouldn't hurt to try. ... The loops will be four layers and the seams of the jeans will be four layers. I wouldn't try it on my sewing machine. ... For this project, I would use hand sewing needles called "quilting betweens." ... Actually, it would be better to not open the seams of the new jeans.

Thanks for all the comments. It appears that this task is beyond my current skill level. But I like the idea of trying something easier to learn first and then build up to the thicker layers. I don't know if Dear Wife's sewing machine could punch through the 4 layers you mentioned. If I do this job, sounds like I better do it by hand.

Talking about something easier to learn, I think I will cut some of the leg off and try to make a roll up storage case for my reciprocating saw blades. I have a couple of those roll up cases that I could copy the idea from and maybe learn a bit about sewing at the same time.

I'll have to check into getting some heavy duty needles for hand use, or those denim needles for the sewing machine. I guess I'll also have to find out the limits of heavy sewing on Dear Wife's machine. Sounds like a normal sewing machine might not be up to the task of sewing denim in layers.

Years ago, I used to bring in some jackets and such to get a zipper installed, or some other alterations that were needed. A few years ago, I took another jacket in to get a zipper replaced, and the labor cost had gone up so much that the zipper job would have cost me almost twice the price of buying a new jacket at WalMart. Since then, I have not even considered bringing anything into the sewing shop for repair. The lady at the sewing shop basically told me that they only work on wedding dresses anymore.

I guess it's like so many other things in life. You no longer take most electronics into a repair shop because it's just cheaper to buy a new unit than getting an older one fixed. Many years ago I did computer repair on the side, and it got to the point where I had to tell people that I could fix their out of warranty computer, but it would be money wasted because it would be cheaper to buy a newer, faster, better computer with a warranty. We did some warranty repairs for a while, but it got to the point where it was cheaper for the company to replace a warranty computer rather than fixing it. I hate to see so much stuff being thrown away, but I know that many times it's just more frugal to replace something old and need of repair with something new for less money than the repair costs. Sad, but true.

 

[saysfaa]

Yep. On all counts. Well, home machines will do two layers of denim with no problem. The the seam ends of four layers are doable, maybe with a bit of help to get the presser foot up on them.