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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@afewbugs What is a "needle threader"? Yes, the instructions for threading a sewing machine are essential, but I've never come across a gadget to help?
@TimWardCam like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Threaders-Plastic-Needles-Machines-Clothing/dp/B0BBZXDK6L/ Basically a diamond shaped bit of stiff wire you can put through the eye of the needle then have a much larger hole to put the thread through, then use it to pull the thread through the needle. They save so much faffing about
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Isn't that strange?! I expect these pants were new old stock, with some unfashionable leg shape. Which were then purchased wholesale by another company that cut them into shorts and added the embroidery
It's a whole industry. I read an article about it sometime. Probably in the New Yorker. It sounds like their kind of thing
@NilaJones @afewbugs Ah yes, that makes sense! I was wondering why what is clearly industrial embroidery wasn't done in the right order when making them.
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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 @afewbugs I sewed some pockets in my daughter's shorts. For myself, I buy retro style dresses and skirts. They come with huge pockets 🥰
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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.
1/🧵
@afewbugs oooooooo straight to jail!!
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Also it's 2026, women want pockets enough to make them ourselves FFS. Clothing companies take note
@afewbugs this is the coolest gods damned thread! That's incredible, I need to see if the TPL has sewing machines for use anywhere
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Also it's 2026, women want pockets enough to make them ourselves FFS. Clothing companies take note
@afewbugs skirts with a pocket for your phone absolutely rules. I love the ones I have that can take a phone soooo much more....
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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 Also, yes, an alarming number of men are creepy. It's hard to believe the scale of it until you start experiencing it.
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@emily_rugburn @afewbugs I sewed some pockets in my daughter's shorts. For myself, I buy retro style dresses and skirts. They come with huge pockets 🥰
@isisevrinen @emily_rugburn @afewbugs I love both these examples of retrofitted pockets! Brilliant! (but boo to creepy men)
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Also it's 2026, women want pockets enough to make them ourselves FFS. Clothing companies take note
Also somewhere in the replies a man asked me what a needle threader was and I explained and now I feel like tracking down the library guy, waving my phone in his face and going "Look at that! You see how easy it is to take a genuine interest in something sewing related and ask a question in a perfectly normal way about it! LOOK HOW EASY IT IS NOT TO BE A CREEP!"
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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.
1/🧵
When I added dark-out lining to my curtains 3 years ago in Oxfordshire, I borrowed a sewing machine from a local costume business. I was amazed they wanted no money.
I love my curtains.
I learned to sew by watching my grandma.
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@afewbugs Oh, weird. There would have been some pocket if they hadn't been embroidered through the pocket lining.
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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/🧵
@afewbugs Love your flo mask! So pretty!
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@TimWardCam like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Threaders-Plastic-Needles-Machines-Clothing/dp/B0BBZXDK6L/ Basically a diamond shaped bit of stiff wire you can put through the eye of the needle then have a much larger hole to put the thread through, then use it to pull the thread through the needle. They save so much faffing about
@afewbugs @TimWardCam
Thanks for the info.I have seen them before, but never understood them. Now, I do.
You rock!
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So I cut some slits in the existing useless pockets and made some new ones.
4/🧵
@afewbugs So cool!! Nice work
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So I cut some slits in the existing useless pockets and made some new ones.
4/🧵
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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.
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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.
1/🧵
@afewbugs Argh, the fake tiny pockets!
I have done similar pocket surgery on jeans, and while it sucks that we have to make our own pockets, it's so satisfying when they're done.
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@afewbugs Love your flo mask! So pretty!
@ConnyChiwa thank you! The front just snaps off so is very easy to paint - I sprayed it with primer and used acrylic paint pens
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@Betty @jgrg @NilaJones came up with a plausible explanation in another branch of this thread https://zeroes.ca/@NilaJones/116665018097227860
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@afewbugs Also, yes, an alarming number of men are creepy. It's hard to believe the scale of it until you start experiencing it.
On men being creepy: No need to belief, the data proofs it. https://www.qasimrashid.com/p/women-are-not-safe-around-men
And on a more happy note: great work on the pockets! I never got into sewing (or knitting) as the learning curve has always felt quite steep to me.
But looks like one of those things that is both useful and very satisfying.
