A couple of weeks ago I bought a great pair of shorts from a charity shop, then wore them for the first time and immediately realised why someone donated them in the first place.
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Fortunately #ExeterLibrary offers an extremely cool service where people with library cards can borrow a sewing machine to use in the library. It comes with a lamp, box of accessories including black and white thread and a seam ripper but not a needle threader so I'd recommend bringing your own) and instruction sheet for threading it. Threading an unfamiliar machine is often a bit of a logic puzzle but I actually found it harder to get the unfamiliar iron working, which you can also borrow for pressing. This is all free btw.
2/🧵
I do actually have a sewing machine of my own, but some parts went rusty when I used to live in an extremely damp flat and I haven't managed to have the time and money at the same time to get it fixed since.
3/4
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I do actually have a sewing machine of my own, but some parts went rusty when I used to live in an extremely damp flat and I haven't managed to have the time and money at the same time to get it fixed since.
3/4
So I cut some slits in the existing useless pockets and made some new ones.
4/🧵
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So I cut some slits in the existing useless pockets and made some new ones.
4/🧵
@afewbugs Oh, weird. There would have been some pocket if they hadn't been embroidered through the pocket lining.
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So I cut some slits in the existing useless pockets and made some new ones.
4/🧵
The only part of the experience that wasn't great was when a man interrupted me in the middle of the first pocket and asked me to teach him how to use a sewing machine, which is the sort of thing that unfortunately happens all too frequently while Being A Woman In Public. I waved the threading instruction sheet at him, told him he was in a library and suggested he get a book, told him to look for YouTube videos and suggested he ask any older female relatives he might have because there was a good chance they might know. He responded by asking if I would come back next Saturday and he would pay me to teach him.
5/🧵
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The only part of the experience that wasn't great was when a man interrupted me in the middle of the first pocket and asked me to teach him how to use a sewing machine, which is the sort of thing that unfortunately happens all too frequently while Being A Woman In Public. I waved the threading instruction sheet at him, told him he was in a library and suggested he get a book, told him to look for YouTube videos and suggested he ask any older female relatives he might have because there was a good chance they might know. He responded by asking if I would come back next Saturday and he would pay me to teach him.
5/🧵
Because I know someone will say it, I would have had no issue with showing someone if I thought they were genuinely interested in learning to use a sewing machine, I think it's important to pass these skills on. But it was clear what he wanted wasn't to learn to sew, it was access to me.
6/🧵
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@FaithfullJohn isn't it just!
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Because I know someone will say it, I would have had no issue with showing someone if I thought they were genuinely interested in learning to use a sewing machine, I think it's important to pass these skills on. But it was clear what he wanted wasn't to learn to sew, it was access to me.
6/🧵
Anyway after I finally got the attention of the librarians at the desk and got him to fuck off I managed to finish the pockets.
7/🧵
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Anyway after I finally got the attention of the librarians at the desk and got him to fuck off I managed to finish the pockets.
7/🧵
I decided it would be easier to sew the new pockets to the existing ones by hand, so this is my accountability thread to make sure I actually do that before it gets too cold to wear them. But yes, Exeter Library's sewing machine service: highly recommended. Creepy men: do not recommend.
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Anyway after I finally got the attention of the librarians at the desk and got him to fuck off I managed to finish the pockets.
7/🧵
@afewbugs Sad you had to deal with That Dude.
And, even more importantly: Those pockets are fantastic!
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I decided it would be easier to sew the new pockets to the existing ones by hand, so this is my accountability thread to make sure I actually do that before it gets too cold to wear them. But yes, Exeter Library's sewing machine service: highly recommended. Creepy men: do not recommend.
Also it's 2026, women want pockets enough to make them ourselves FFS. Clothing companies take note
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@afewbugs Sad you had to deal with That Dude.
And, even more importantly: Those pockets are fantastic!
@jonobie thank you!
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I decided it would be easier to sew the new pockets to the existing ones by hand, so this is my accountability thread to make sure I actually do that before it gets too cold to wear them. But yes, Exeter Library's sewing machine service: highly recommended. Creepy men: do not recommend.
@afewbugs sorry about the dude! What a cool borrowing item for the library to offer! ps if you can, might be worth it to suggest to the librarians that they include a needle threader - they might not be aware how helpful that can be for a lot of folks.
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@afewbugs sorry about the dude! What a cool borrowing item for the library to offer! ps if you can, might be worth it to suggest to the librarians that they include a needle threader - they might not be aware how helpful that can be for a lot of folks.
@kimu good idea!
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I decided it would be easier to sew the new pockets to the existing ones by hand, so this is my accountability thread to make sure I actually do that before it gets too cold to wear them. But yes, Exeter Library's sewing machine service: highly recommended. Creepy men: do not recommend.
@afewbugs but how do you manage to get your phone into your shorts new front pockets, now you have added them?
I can get a pack of tissues or some keys or a few coins into my jeans front pockets (which is still useful) but nothing any longer. My phone (about the smallest Android these days) will go into my jeans back pockets but it never seems safe. What really works are side pockets, preferably with a zip, but jeans never seem to have them, it's not the style. -
Also it's 2026, women want pockets enough to make them ourselves FFS. Clothing companies take note
@afewbugs i get audibly upset in dressing rooms when i try on pants that 1. have teeny tiny pockets or 2. have fake pockets
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@afewbugs but how do you manage to get your phone into your shorts new front pockets, now you have added them?
I can get a pack of tissues or some keys or a few coins into my jeans front pockets (which is still useful) but nothing any longer. My phone (about the smallest Android these days) will go into my jeans back pockets but it never seems safe. What really works are side pockets, preferably with a zip, but jeans never seem to have them, it's not the style.@marjolica I have a couple of pairs of jeans I can do it on, the trick is to have pockets so deep the phone goes past the place where your leg hinges against your body and lies along your thigh. If they're not deep enough the phone sits at the hinge and then you can't bend your leg properly
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@afewbugs i get audibly upset in dressing rooms when i try on pants that 1. have teeny tiny pockets or 2. have fake pockets
@emily_rugburn see you're smart enough to check the pockets before buying them, unlike me
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@emily_rugburn see you're smart enough to check the pockets before buying them, unlike me
@afewbugs this is why i only buy pants/jeans from the farm supply store now haha
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@marjolica I have a couple of pairs of jeans I can do it on, the trick is to have pockets so deep the phone goes past the place where your leg hinges against your body and lies along your thigh. If they're not deep enough the phone sits at the hinge and then you can't bend your leg properly
@afewbugs yes, that is indeed the problem and what you suggest would work, but not, at least invisibly, on these cut offs and they would still be a problem getting then out past the 'bend' if you're sitting.
I rather like my cargo pants, with side pockets and a front patch pocket, all of which will hold a phone or a purse. -
@afewbugs yes, that is indeed the problem and what you suggest would work, but not, at least invisibly, on these cut offs and they would still be a problem getting then out past the 'bend' if you're sitting.
I rather like my cargo pants, with side pockets and a front patch pocket, all of which will hold a phone or a purse.@marjolica I don't really care how far the protrude tbh, that's why I picked nice fabic
