How to repair a torn Mark & Spencer slip and make the hem wider, Post 294

What is this? My repair. 

I have a lovely shiny, smart black slip, from Marks & Spencers. It has a slit with pretty lace edging. 

But it is slightly tight. It tore from the top of the slit, diagonally. 

I looked for another slip. The ones I found onlin were twice the price and not in a satiny fabric.

I wore it torn. I repaired it several times. It tore again. 

I gave up. I wore it torn. Nobody sees.

My husband saw. He complained.

What could I do? It is useless to keep stitching it. It just tears again. I needed a new solution.

I thought of adding a godet, a triangle of black fabric. I did not have anything to match. tht doesn't matter a godet is often a contrasting material. But that's when you have several godets and they look deliberate.

I hunted in my sewing box. Boxes. All I had was teeny scraps of cloth in unsuitable fabrics. And ribbons.

I thought about what I could do with the ribbons. They were not wide enough. But I could sew one each side of the slit. that would make it narrower.

I had several colours. Pale pink looked wrong against the black. The gred and green looked best. Which one? I like red. The green matched better. 

But I liked red. So I sewed red on one side. Green the other. 

The sides did not meet. I still  had a gap wiwhen I sat with my knees crossed.

The black ribbon I had rejected because it was the wrong fabric, heavier, instead of satin effect, now become another stripe. finally I had threee strips of ribbons, two green and one red, and two black But I still needed fabric.

i went to the household cupboard looking for something else - anti clothes moth spray. I discovered soemthing else. A single black sock.

What was it doing there?   

It had a hole. I had dcided to demote it to a cleaning glove. But it had not been used in that capacity and was clean.

I had seen a YouTube video in which the rib og the sock was used to create a tight edge to cleeves or trousers (Amercians say pants).

How could I use the sock? It was not wide enough. However, when slit vertically and opened up, the size doubled. I need it only for the lower half of the triangular gap in the slip.

I cut it to fit the gap. It was perfect. The sock fabric was stretchy. So when stretched it provided the width needed when I crossed my legs. When hanging loose, it closed up again. 

I have now learned how to expand any garment, using a cut up stretchy sock.

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