Friday was Paul's 57th birthday.  I'd been asking him for about a month now what he wanted for his birthday present.  He was non-commital.  Finally, on Friday he came home early from work and sheepishly looked at me when I suggested we go out to shop for a present for him.  He fessed up.  He thought he needed a wardrobe overhaul.  Poor guy.  I was perplexed though.  The man is a clotheshorse! 

So we went through his closet...all of it.  It was so funny watching him try to weasel out of finishing the job.  He just doesn't like to think about clothes.  It turns out a lot of clothes are worn out, don't fit, are dirty or in need of repair.  He hasn't been bringing things to me.  I can only imagine what his staff think!  Sigh... 

So we made a list of things that needed to be replaced.  I gave another deep sigh...3 dress shirts, 3 t-shirts, 2 pairs of pants.  I figured it would cost about $300CAD for him.  He is tall and thin and we have to buy at specialty stores usually.

Well today we actually hit the stores.  We started at the thrift store and scored right away...2 t-shirts for a total of $8CAD.  Then off to a clearance centre (outlet store) and scored 2 dress shirts, a tie (came with the shirts), and a pair of dress pants for $34CAD.  I'm feeling pretty pumped by all this!  Later Paul dropped me off while he visited Mark's Work Wearhouse.  He found the second pair of pants...not on sale...$65CAD.  It's okay.  He saved mega-bucks on the other stuff.  He picks me up and talks about this shirt that he didn't know about...it was nice, but expensive.  I insist we go back and look at it.  Good thing too!  By the time we rang out of the till it was 1/3 off...$50. 

So Paul is only short a t-shirt now.  I told him he could buy whatever he wanted.  The total bill so far is $157CAD!  Almost half what we'd budgeted!  Yippee!  Both Paul and I are pretty pleased right now. Especially since he saw the $4 thrift store t-shirt selling at Mark's Work Wearhouse for $18!  And I found out something...he likes the clothes at Marks Work Wearhouse.  I'll be keeping an eye on their sales from now on...

So I'm used to having help hemming pants, but now Meghan is older and never home, things have degenerated.  I tried to interest Paul in pinning them up for me around Christmas, but my request fell on deaf ears.  So I'm thinking there has to be a way.  But by now you all know me...procrastination is my middle name.  Enter friends...

Every good procrastinator needs a friend that says in frustration "Just get up off your duff and do it!"  Enter Melissa.  When I ask "How?"  She looks at me with disgust and says "You just pin them up and try them on in front of a long mirror."  Note to self...clear the stuff away from the door area the mirror hangs on, so I can use it.  

"But how do I know how high to pin it?"  I have visions of spending all afternoon trying to get this right.

Enter Judy.  Now Judy knows what she's working with.  She recognizes ignorance when she sees it!  Judy takes me aside and says "First you take a pair of pants you do like the length of.  Then you measure the inseam from the crotch to the hem.  Then you pin the hem of the new pants to the same length on the inseam of the other pant." 

Okay, we're getting somewhere.  But I'm still confused.  I don't like my pant leg to break over my shoe much.  A bit, but not much.  Judy sees it in my face and, recognizing she may need some back-up, she calls in Linda. 

Linda, bless her soul, introduces humour into the entire situation of Jean showing ignorance, telling us a story of a certain career woman she knows who duct tapes her hems up until her mother comes to sew them up properly.  Anyway, Linda gives detailed instructions on what to do if you don't want a break over the foot...you pick apart the side seams and spread them so the hem lies flat between the back and front of the pant. 

I actually knew that, but it was interesting to also hear Linda expound on different styles of hems, and how some people like one that's cut straight across, and others like their hem angled up in the front.  They are two schools of thought and both perfectly acceptable.  Also how some pants are easier to angle than others...tapered legs being especially difficult.  And some pants - wide legged ones - can be hemmed longer than tapered ones.  And length also depends on the type of shoe you plan to wear with the pant.  Pants worn with high heeled shoes can be hemmed longer than those worn with runners or walking shoes.

But I'm still having visions of taking pants off and on all afternoon, trying to get them fitted right.  I come home and embark on the first pair...holding my breath in hesitation, I attack with the measuring tape, the chalk, and then...the scissors!  I don't think there is anything so panicky to a woman's soul than to take a pair of scissors to a too long pair pants to hem them up.  But you know, I did buy the pants at the thrift store, so I really don't need to hold my breath over them.  I just hate the thought I might ruin a perfectly good pair of pants!

I measure my inseam and pin the purple pair up.  I try them on.  They look awful.  Heart sinking..."this isn't going to work".  But, Melissa, Judy and Linda can't all be wrong...so...I take them up higher, and then a little more in the front than the back, then more yet.  Finally, after the fourth or fifth time trying them on, I've got what I want. Yippee!  Now to just take the time to stitch them up.  And...onto the green pair...

So to all you single folks out there, who probably already know this, you can hem your pants solo, and not pay a seamstress to do it, or wait for a friend or relative to bail you out!  What a sense of freedom it is to learn to do something else myself!LOL

Update:

I wore my newly hemmed pants to meet with friends to stitch today.  I asked their opinions and received everything from "they're too long" to "they're too short", to "leave them as they are"!  We all had a good chuckle.  In the end, I think I'll leave these ones as they are.  It is possible I may wear them with a 1 1/2" heel, which will make them just the right length.  They are a nice purple dress pant.  Now...on to those green pants...

Yesterday I had the car. I went to the thrift store for clothes. Of course I was sidetracked. I'm horrible that way, and the thrift store is full of such temptation!

I bought 3 turtlenecks and 2 pairs of pants, plus a vase and a kleenex box for $30cdn. That was pricey in my books. Pants have gone up in price at the thrift store. I'm not impressed. They were $7.99/pair.

The vase was to complete a vignette of vases on my mantel. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on this, so have been picking them up at garage sales and thrift stores. The long tall white one is the one I found for 99 cents yesterday.


Here is the Kleenex box...


Cool! you say? But why? Good question. I am not going to use it for Kleenex. So help me, all I could think of was "What a neat pattern to put fabric over and rub with Shiva sticks!" So that's what it is going to be used for. A template for Shiva stick paintings. It was $1.99. A set of four templates is $6.50 at the cheap store in town.  I have two distinct patterns on this box - the lid and the side - and they go together.