The café sessions, part two

Saturday was sweltering, but we still had a few brave souls come and visit us at Per Diem.

Blake the barista busted a hole in his shorts pocket at our repair workshop the week before. Another hole started to form on the opposite side. This seems to be a common problem among the men I know, and it's usually a result of storing bulky items (e.g. phones, keys, wallets, etc.) in the pockets until they wear out.

Before

After. Ta-da!

The happy barista.

I used iron-on denim patches on the inside (you can buy them at Spotlight, Lincraft, etc.) and reinforced the mend with lots of zigzag stitching on the outside. I then dabbed Fray Check at the top four corners of the pockets.

If you've never used Fray Check or similar (there are heaps of products that do the same thing), it's the best! Good for keeping holes and worn spots from getting worse, and especially good for keeping jeans hems and pockets from fraying. If your pants sag and your hems drag on the ground, it might not be a bad idea to invest in some kind of fray-stopping product. Or come visit us at Per Diem this Saturday or next and learn how to take up your pants hems.

Carolyn brought in her alarm clock for us to have a look. The second hand had fallen off, and she tried to repair it herself. Yay, Carolyn! Only, she did what many of us do and took it apart without remembering exactly how it went back together. And that darned second hand was still rattling around.

The second hand taunts us.

John takes a closer look...

Clever John got the second hand back on (yay!). Tune in next week to see if we can get it back together in one piece...

Handy tip: If you're thinking of opening something up and having a look, take photographs on your camera or phone of the dismantling process as you go. Then you'll have an easier time figuring out what went where. Easier said than done, of course, but good to remember for bigger projects especially.

The lovely Jo visited us with a dress she bought at an op shop. It was really two dresses in one, but sewn together at the neckline. She decided to separate them, then realised she was going to have to do something about the frayed necklines. When she saw an article about Fix It! she knew where to come for help.

She hadn't used a sewing machine for years, but I think it's safe to say she really enjoyed using ours.

Wheeeeee! Hee hee hee.

Gorgeous! And she fixed it herself (and did a great job, I might add).

We have two more sessions coming up at Per Diem on the 16th and 23rd of March  - see Where + When for details.

If you've been thinking about coming along, we'd love to see you. I'd encourage you to allow a little more time out of your schedule than you might have thought. Our visitors seem to enjoy having a cuppa and a chat, and watching the fixing process (or contributing solutions themselves). And most people come toward the end of the day, so there can be a bit of a backlog, or we might need to pack up when you're still working on your project. If you show up early (we start at 10am), you can monopolise our time - mwah ha ha.