“I used to get disgusted, yes perhaps even mad sometimes. But now I find myself doing the same thing.”

Mom was a good seamstress she made most of our clothes, she knew how it should be. Sometimes we now think it’s getting worse instead of better, with the mass production, the short cuts they seem to have found. One thread can pop, and there goes the whole seam. We’ve all experienced that. That machine hem stitch, the one holding the hem, with only that one thread it loosens and, zip, there went the whole hem.

So take a look inside the garment. Check especially those seams that do get a lot of stress — the set-in sleeves for example. If it’s not stitched (topstitched) on the outside, if it’s a single-surged seam for instance it may not last. You can secure and strengthen it by pressing it back or toward the body or shoulder itself then on the right side topstitch it (as it should have been to really last and hold).

Haven’t we all felt that manufacturers don’t really care if their product lasts. The light bulb, I think, is a great example. We old timers remember when they used to last a long time. Now they tell you how many hours it will last and sometimes they do.

Love and God bless.

— Aunt Norie, P.O. Box 265, Tonganoxie 66086, auntnorie@bdc.net.