Comment

Comment by Algirdas Davidavicius on 5th mo. 6, 2009 at 8:54am

Friend :))))) I wish I had Thy concerns (haircut, collars)!!! LOL

Comment by Helen Haug on 4th mo. 12, 2009 at 5:52pm

Where was I? Oh, yeah.

Button the two suspenders in place and mark where they cross in back. Double stitch the two suspenders together, sewing a box with an X inside.

Now rivet buttons on all pairs of pants to be worn with suspenders.

And mind thy weight, Friend.

Comment by Helen Haug on 4th mo. 12, 2009 at 5:40pm

Save the Collars

It's late, but I just have to get up and write this down. I can't lose any more sleep over the collars. Not that I have any objection to Friends removing those superfluous collars from their shirts, but I'm concerned about what happens to the collars. Please don't tell me they get thrown away.

I'm not clear yet on whether repurposing is a leading or a compulsion—maybe it's both. But I am clear that a culture of disposability is ultimately corrosive to the spirit as well as to creation. My mind scrambles to find uses for things thoughtlessly made and thoughtlessly abandoned once their single purpose is accomplished. It's too short a leap to the way the World treats people—as workers, for instance, or consumers, or voters, ad nauseam. So I feel that saving the collars could be as important a testimony as removing them.

At first I thought someone ought to collect all the collars, sew them end-to-end, and create a Simplicity Quilt. It could be carried across the country on a Quaker Walk for Simplicity accompanied by Friends wearing collarless shirts and gathering more collars as they went. It could start a new fashion!

Someone, but not me. Myself, I mostly wear tee shirts & sweat shirts. And I need the collars on my jackets for protection from wind & rain. There's also nothing moving me to walk with a quilt, so this notion is probably outrunning my Light.

Back to the drawing board. If each Friend who clipped collars were to repurpose the material himself (I know I'm making an assumption here), what good use could they be put to? How many collars would an average Friend have—8 or 10? And how long is the average collar, 12 inches? How wide, 3 or 4 inches? Sewing them side-to-side might make a skimpy picket-fence sort of vest, but sewing end-to-end would make a nice brace of suspenders.

So, my contribution is a simplicity pattern for bona fide Quaker suspenders:

First, measure from the pants waist in front, over the shoulder and across to the pants waist in the back, and add an inch. That's the suspender length; you'll need two.

On each collar, turn the ragged edge in (the short edge of the collar where it was removed from the shirt) and topstitch. Sew 5 collars end-to-end, center-on-center, matching the diagonals together. (I recommend using a zig-zag stitch for strength.) You should end up with a strip that looks like one long rather jagged collar with both tips on one side. (Don't worry about the differences in width; the sides will get folded back to double the thickness of the strip.) Measure the strip on the short edge, not the tip to tip side, and see how closely it matches the suspender length you’ll need.

At this point you will very likely have to either cut material off or cut a piece of another collar and add on to get the right length. (Save the extra cut-off material; I'm working on a pattern for a Quaker bow tie.) Chances are one end of the strip will now be cut straight, or blunt, and the other will end in a diagonal. If no cuts or additions are needed—mozeltov; follow instructions for both the diagonal ends.

Fold the sides of the strip so that the widest collar tips meet in the middle. Topstitch the folded edges, then hand-hem the collar’s former edges down. This is the back side of the now-straight and even-width suspender.

Fold the blunt cut end of the strip up toward the back a half an inch, and double stitch or zig-zag stitch for strength. Fold the diagonal end of the strip thusly: bend the tip back along the diagonal to achieve a chevron instead of a diagonal. Double stitch. Now buttonholes just above the folded ends will be reinforced and won't tear out easily.

Rivet four jeans-style buttons onto the waistband of a pair of pants: two in front and two in back. Place each suspender button-to-button, and mark the buttonholes. (Remember, the shank of the button will be at the bottom of the buttonhole.) Sew a buttonhole on each end, orienting them vertically, not horizontally.

Button th

Comment by Carl D. Williams on 4th mo. 6, 2009 at 6:22pm

I use both collared and plain shirts. But in removing a collar in good shape, led to trying to find a good use for those good collars--small and oddly shaped collars. I can never found a good function for the collars after I've taken them off. Too small for paint drips, dust rags, or dish clothes. My quilting friend could find little use for them. So what I usually do is wait until the collar wears and extend the life of the shirt that way. I will get the recommend tool, though. Much easier than scissors or razor blades for sure. My kind wife sews them up for me (she also cuts my hair although I never brag about it--and you will note from the photograph that it has become a less burdensome task over the years.)

Comment by MJ on 3rd mo. 6, 2009 at 8:17pm

Thanks Martin! I'm going to try this for my husband this week!

Comment by Martin Kelley on 3rd mo. 6, 2009 at 8:13pm

Hi Tom: sorry that I offended. The serious part was the instructions on the collar. The barbershop reference wasn't meant as serious commentary, only as an aside about Quaker culture. I think we do need to be able to smile at ourselves and the peculiarities of modern Quaker style.

Comment by Martin Kelley on 3rd mo. 4, 2009 at 1:29pm

Thanks. I got a haircut yesterday though. Alas! I tried to do a "Some Days" video about Hammonton barbers but there were Vimeo problems and I realized I sounded petty anyway so I canceled. Maybe I'll try again.

Comment by C. Wess Daniels on 3rd mo. 4, 2009 at 1:12pm

I think your hair is cute.