Slide outline for Lesson 5.9, one day, thirteen slides. Slides 4 to 9 are the three demonstrations and they run about two minutes each; the slides are the step reference students look back at while they work. Slides 10 to 12 are the repair-or-replace decision, which is the graded thinking of the period.
You are the tailor today
- Lesson 5.9
- Three stations, three repairs: a fallen hem, a split seam, a hole
- You pick two
- First you diagnose, then you sew, because picking the right repair is the harder skill
Teacher notes
Image: three garments laid out, a pant leg with a hanging hem, a T-shirt with an open side seam, and jeans with a knee hole.
Do now, diagnose these three
- For each picture: what is the problem, in your own words?
- Then guess how long each one would take to fix
- Three minutes
Teacher notes
Image: three photographs, a pant hem hanging with thread trailing, a T-shirt side seam open at the underarm, and a knee hole in jeans.
Shorter than you think
- A hem: 10 to 15 minutes
- A split seam: 5 minutes
- A patch: 10 minutes
- These pants cost twenty-six dollars new. They are in the rag bin because of a hem.
Teacher notes
Image: a pair of pants held up with a thrift store price tag still attached.
Station A, the fallen hem, steps 1 to 4
- Find the original crease. The old fold line is already there.
- Fold the raw edge back up to the crease
- Pin it every two inches, heads out
- Press it, or crease it hard between your fingernails
Teacher notes
Image: a pant leg inside out with a faint crease line, a hand folding the edge up to it, and four pins holding it.
Station A, steps 5 to 9
- Knot and come up inside the fold, so the knot hides in there
- Catch one or two threads of the outer fabric. The tiniest bite. This is what makes it invisible.
- Go back into the fold and travel a quarter inch inside it
- Repeat all the way around, pulling pins as you reach them
- Finish off inside the fold, then turn it right side out and look
Teacher notes
Image: a close-up of a needle picking up two single threads from flat fabric next to a folded edge.
A running stitch works too and shows on the front. That is a choice, not a mistake. Say so.
Station B, the split seam, steps 1 to 4
- Turn the garment inside out
- Line the two raw edges back up
- Pin the gap closed
- Find where the old stitching still holds at both ends of the split
Teacher notes
Image: a T-shirt inside out with an open side seam, pinned closed, with arrows pointing at the intact machine stitching on both sides of the gap.
Station B, steps 5 to 8
- Start your backstitch half an inch BEFORE the split, in the intact seam
- Backstitch along the original seam line
- Keep going half an inch PAST the end of the split
- Finish off, turn it right side out, and pull on it to test
Teacher notes
Image: a solid line of backstitching running along an old seam line, extending past both ends of a closed gap, with two arrows marking the overlaps.
The overlap is the whole trick. A repair that starts and stops exactly at the split reopens within a week.
Station C, option 1, the hidden patch
- Cut a patch an inch bigger than the hole on every side
- Trim the loose threads around the hole. Do not make the hole bigger.
- Put the patch behind the hole
- Pin from the front, through both layers
- Whipstitch or hem stitch all the way around the edge of the hole
- Finish off inside
Teacher notes
Image: a hole with a patch visible behind it, pinned, then stitched in a ring around the hole's edge.
Station C, option 2, the visible mend
- Choose a patch color you want people to see
- Cut it an inch bigger than the hole on every side
- Put it on the FRONT, over the hole, and pin it
- Sew rows of running stitch across the whole patch in bright floss, a quarter inch apart, going half an inch past the patch into the fabric
- Finish off on the back
- A visible mend is a repair you are not hiding. A lot of people now prefer it.
Teacher notes
Image: jeans with a bright patch covered in parallel rows of contrasting running stitches.
Have one of these made ahead in a loud color. Students choose it once they see one.
Repair or replace? Four cases
| Case | Damage | Repair time | Repair cost | Replace |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Pants, fallen hem | 12 min | $0.05 | $26 |
| B | T-shirt, split underarm | 5 min | $0.05 | $8 |
| C | Coat, torn pocket lining | 20 min | $0.40 | $60 |
| D | Leggings, worn thin and pilled, no tear | ? | ? | $14 |
Teacher notes
Image: the four items laid out with price tags.
Run it through the five steps
- Name the choice
- List options
- Weigh each against what matters
- Decide
- Look back
- The same five steps from Unit 0. They work on a garment the same way they work on anything else.
Teacher notes
Image: the five-step decision model poster from Unit 0.
Case D is the important one
- Worn-thin, pilled fabric has no repair
- There is nothing to sew together; the fiber itself is gone
- Sometimes the right answer is that it cannot be fixed
- Then: rags, textile recycling, stuffing, or patch fabric. The landfill is the last choice.
Teacher notes
Image: a pair of worn leggings being cut into strips with fabric shears.
Let students argue for repairing it first, then land it. Knowing when a thing is finished is also a skill.
What a tailor charges
- A tailor charges about twelve dollars to hem a pair of pants [Sal: call one and use the real number]
- The materials cost five cents
- So what are you actually paying for?
- Five-minute warning: needles and pins back, count out loud, initials
Teacher notes
Image: a small tailor shop window with a price list in it.
One student per station holds up a finished repair and names the problem and the stitch. Collect the handouts; the diagnosis chart and the decision sheet are the graded record.