For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for October 28, 2018

well, Elizabeth makes a fine alligator or dinosaur anyway

Oh my God, they are both walking away with their hands in their pockets. It’s a father-son duo.

Well then, Mike, do your own mending!

Better yet, Mike, if you take better care of your clothes, they don’t need mending…

Today the part of Michael is being played by Mordecai Adelbert Patterson, a boy from the 19th century, who like many callow youths of his century were concerned about the timeliness of his mother’s mending.

Way to sexist!! No appreciation for designing or women!

That’s a lot of time to recuperate. She must be firing on all cilinders

Elly even has left-handed scissors.

Great Dragon costume Elly!!!

John must be glad to be back home after that horror of a hotel stay in Ottawa.

Lynn’s Notes:

Does anyone actually make Halloween costumes any more?

I don’t think my mom ever mended any of my clothes, but with pattern in hand, she was a wizard at sewing.

Make Michael do the mending and see how much fun, he’s having!

No one likes mending and it’s a thankless task. This is a good time for Mike to learn how to sew on a button since it’s too late for his father. My dad could do it but my husband has never tried.

As a seamstress of 65 years, gotta tell ya. . .I’d let the guys do their own mending from now on. And, oh, yeah, no “whipping up a neat shirt for the dance next weekend. . .”

Do your own mending. Mom has her own things to do.

All of my kids learned to sew both by hand and with a machine. It’s a useful skill.

Creating a costume with no pattern or even using a pattern is a lot more fun than mending a seam or sewing on a button. We all have a tendency to procrastinate about the boring tasks of life.

I hope that Elizabeth doesn’t go on a raptor rampage:

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2013/10/menace.html

as a kid my sister and I were in charge of making our own. We got handy with a needle and thread and glue.

I’ve met a few.

Who mends anymore????

Our mother’s at our smallish public school, have a costume competition to see who makes their kids the best homemade costume. We go to see them parade at school on Halloween, just to see who outdid themselves that year.

Ugh.

sure do and they’re the best!

I can still sew, it is just that with my tremor, I can’t thread the needle.

Last costume I made was about 8 years ago, no little ones anymore

Ooooo MIchael, that comment would have got you dragged back into the room, handed a needle, thread, scissors and your stack of mending to do !!!!

If you don’t have to mend, it means that there are plenty of other clothes to wear. If you only have one pair of pants or a special blouse or whatever, you have no choice but to mend it if you need to wear it. I am certainly no seamstress, but I can fix a hem, sew on a button, etc. I had to when I had very little money for clothing, even from a thrift shop. I am glad that nowadays if I really want to mend something out of preferring not to buy something new, I can either do so myself or take it to the tailor! Otherwise, I just grab another outfit from the closet!

The last costume I made was for my 19-year-old to be the grim reaper. I had to custom-fit it because he’s so tall, and full face covering that he could still see through and a velcro opening at the neck, so he could eat and drink. Pheww! That was a tough “build” but not at tricky as building the Lexan glowing scythe that his dad constructed. He still has the costume and uses it — 16 years later. :D