Chews It Up and Spits It Out - How to Fix a Hole in Your Clothes

Another joy of condo living is that we can only fit a old-fashioned, top-loading washer & dryer into our "laundry room."* None of those new-fangled, fancy front loaders here in the condo, just the old washers that chew up your clothes and spit them back out.

*By laundry room, I mean closet. A closet that we've Ikea-shelved to death. There are various versions of Ikea shelves covering both walls. We managed to junk them up like any good American could.

Said washing machine is slowly shredding my favorite clothes, including my favorite go-to work shirt. This shirt is part tee, part dressy shirt, and I found myself wearing it at least once a week (is that too much?). That is, until it got a hole in it.

It's a fine gauge knit so I thought it was toast. but no! It's fixable.

Here's how I did it:

What you'll need:

1. Iron
2. Stabilzer ($1 for one foot at the fabric store)
3. Shirt with hole in it
4. Scissors
5. Pillowcase

Cut stabilizer in oval shape about 1 - 1 1/2 inches larger than the hole on all sides. Notice the Essie Tart Deco nail polish.

Turn shirt inside out. Place the stabilzer, smooth side up, directly over hole.



Place damp pillowase on top of stabilizer & hole. Put iron (I used med-high settings) on damp pillowcase and leave there until the pillowcase is dry. Remove iron.

Done! Stabilizer is now part of the fabric of the shirt.

Voila! Hole is now invisible!

While I would never discourage a shopping trip for a new shirt, this is definitely a way to get some more mileage out of your favorites. This one is back in the rotation, for only a buck! 



Bag Lady

One of the joys of condo living is when the HOA tells you you have to replace a perfectly good something for a near replica of the same thing because they say so. Even though said item is great and functioning normally. Recently we had to spend a lot (we could've bought a small car) on a glorious, dazzling, ravishing...wait for it... new electrical panel. Thrilling.

Since the electrical panel is in my room, I had the pleasure of cleaning before the electrician got started. Behind the door I keep a giant stash of shopping bags. You know the kind, the ones that are kind of paper-board-ish with handles. PP saw the stash and asked, what are those? you keep all those? for what?

I keep them because:

WHAT IF I NEED TO CARRY SOMETHING

SOMEWHERE!

I know this is a ridiculous statement. Don't judge. Well whatev, fine. Judge.

You know you save those Nordstrom cosmetic department bags for your lunch, right? And you take all your clothes to the goodwill dropoff in the large Christmas shopper, don't you? What if you need to take snacks to a friends house? (WOW.)
Anyway, while examining this stash I realized I went to the Nordstrom Anniversary a bit too much. I think I collected all the bags they make (not sure if it's better or worse to note that this collection covers multiple years...).

For the record (uh-oh, that's the universal precursor to an excuse...) I did not spend much money. but did make a few trips. I'm pretty sure I made it out of there for a lot less than my friends did, and the stuff is like, 40% off mostly, and I made a few smart purchases including non-biking bike shorts of the perfect length and a super cute non-unaboob sports bra. Both will be an amazing return on investment to get this bod rock hard again. (ha, again!).

Anyway, the product I'm most excited about from the sale is the Kate Summerville Essentials Kit. This skincare set has a cleanser (smells delish), exfoliator (i've been told more than once that my dry skin needs this) and her Nourish cream. I've heard good things, and apparently other people have too, since they were sold out in the store and they're shipping it to me.

I'll let you know how it goes in a future post!

And how many of the bags I get rid of. If any, let's be real, people.