Why didn't I think of that?

I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'm certainly not the dullest. You might think I was based on my problem-solving skills to date. For some reason, I'm definitely not inclined to hunt for shortcuts - I'm the grin and bear it type, I suppose.

My kids wear countless holes in their jeans. Thought this was exclusive to active boys? Think again. I've added two pairs of jeans to the mending pile in the last week alone. Years ago, I would have replaced the jeans. Now that I own (and can actually operate at a minimal level) a sewing machine, I would rather repair broken goods. Problem is, sewing patches on jeans for 5-8 year olds requires either undoing leg seams in order to use the machine, or just sewing them by hand. Which is what I've been doing. The latter, that is. Any guesses as to how long it takes to sew on one patch by hand? Two hours. I've taken to spending each and every family movie night stitching away and I still can't make a dent in the mending pile.

Up to now, I've repaired 8 pairs of jeans (requiring a total of 12 patches) this way. Yep, do the math. That's 24 hours. The other night, while Tim and I were thoroughly engaged in watching a movie (well, at least he was), he remarked to me, "There must be an easier way". And I thought to myself, "Really? Because I had just resigned myself to a lifetime of repairing torn jeans." And then the light bulb went on. Why not use the machine to sew a cute decorative patch onto the ugly denim iron-on ones you can buy at the store? Then iron it on the pants and voila!

I had four patches ready this afternoon. Guess how long it took me to get them on the holey jeans. 20 minutes. Sure, they don't have the lovely whipstiches(or blood, sweat and tears) that the hand-sewn ones boasted. But I can reclaim hours and hours of my future. And try not to lament the 24 hours I have lost.