So I'm living on my own...Now What?: Don't be scared, it's only a needle...and thread

Where are the little gremlins who come in the middle of the night and chew holes in your shirts? I am telling you...it has to be gremlins. How else would they get there?

So, now what to do. Don't throw away all your shirts. Sewing the holes is not a difficult thing to do once you get the "hang" of it.

First, you will need a sewing kit. You don't need every sewing gadget known to mankind. You just need the basics. I think I got this one at the Dollar Store.

You will need a needle, thread and some scissors. Normally, you would choose a thread color to match your shirt. For the purposes of this post, I used a contrasting color so you could see what I was trying to accomplish. Cut a piece of thread. Take one end of the thread and "thread" it into the hole in the needle (what else would you do with thread?). Anyway, once you have the needle threaded, match both ends of the thread so that the needle kind of splits the thread in half. Tie the 2 ends of thread together and make a knot. This will keep your thread from pulling through the hole.

Now, pick up whatever you are going to sew. Pinch the edges of the hole together. Insert the needle a little bit below the hole. Push the needle through the other side of the hole and pull the needle until the knot stops you. This will be the first stitch. Now...go back to where you started. Insert the needle just above the spot where you made your first stitch (remembering to keep it below the hole).

Push it through the other side of the hole. (sorry about the picture quality...trying to hold the shirt and take the picture with the other hand did not work out so well). STOP BEFORE YOU PULL THE THREAD TIGHT on the second stitch. At this point, you want to push the needle through the loop you created on top of the material...DO NOT MAKE ANOTHER STITCH IN THE MATERIAL YET.

Now is when you want to pull the thread tight. Pushing the needle under that loop and then pulling the thread tight helps to lock the stitch in and make it more secure. You will now continue on with the same process inserting the needle through both sides of the hole and then under the loop, pulling tight, etc. until you have completely stitched closed the hole. Once you have done that, you need to tie off the end of your thread. To do that, you make a loop of thread without pushing it through the material and then feeding the needle through that loop. Keep the loop close to the material. Pull the thread tight to make a knot and then cut the thread above the knot.