POCKET MOUSE
This is a warning to all you gals out there who love their denim, like I do.
The other night I went to grab a pair of jeans from my closet for the first time in a while. The first pair off the pile had a mysterious hole in the back pocket. So did the next pair AND the next pair. Panic started to set in. In fact, six of my favourite pairs of jeans has scruffy looking holes in them. (the heart pocket Jill Stuart jeans are especially painful and illustrative)
WHY?!!
Clearly this was the work of a mouse. The perplexing question was why would would a wee mouse target the same critical location in hundreds of dollars worth of jeans?
The answer, my friends, is dog cookies. I often put a couple dog cookies in my pocket for Maisy throughout the day. Usually I’ll break the cookie in half for economics and wind up with a pocket full of cookie crumbs. Little did I know that this could lead to a little mouse desperately chewing through my back pockets to get to this feeding jackpot.
Luckily, I have years of denim repair experience. When I tripped and fell in my first pair of Seven jeans, ripping an unsightly hole in the knee, I learned about the Denim Doctors (now called Denim Revival) in California. They were known to resuscitate old and damaged jeans with magical skills. I packed up those ripped jeans and FedExed them to the Doctor. They were returned to me a few weeks later, almost as good as new. I studied the repair and came up with my own repair technique which I have been using ever since. Once I do my repairs, I’ll post the ‘after’ photos and we’ll see how bad the damage really is. I’ve never had to repair pockets, so this may require some extra finesse.
There is now also Denim Therapy in Ohio, if you need the help of a professional.
I’ll spare you the details, but the culprit has been dealt with and the bait was dog cookies.
All this lead me to remember the game, Mouse Trap. I used to play it at my grandfather’s house. The game was always filled with so much anticipation about whether the bowling ball would hit the see-saw causing the man to catapult into the tub and actually trap the mouse. I miss fun board games like that.
6 comments
ha! this is a tragi-comedy.
This is great news! I have a favorite pair of Marc Jacobs jeans that I’m very attached to and that I’ve worn thread bare in the knees (and crotch! I think this is from biking? haha). I tried to discretely patch them up from the inside, but that didn’t work out very well. Please share your magical denim secrets!
Not a good way to start the day. Maybe you should get a cat.
angelune – i know, i had to laugh. it was just too bizarre.
melinda – keep your eye out. i’ve got a couple other tutorials in the works right now, but i’ll be sharing a few tips soon.
luann – hi! that’s probably the best idea, but i’m terribly allergic to cats and i don’t think my dog, maisy, would approve either.
Ew Karyn– this post reminds me of one of the grossest things–
I had the same experience about 6 years ago when Willy was a baby. During the first summer after he was born, I had packed away all of my Winter sweaters. The next Fall when I pulled them all out to wear, they had been nibbled to bits all around the shoulders and boobs– I couldn’t figure it out until I realized there must have been residual breast milk and baby barf that hadn’t washed off!
At that moment I felt like the grossest person alive! At least dog biscuits are more respectable! Or like, not so cannibally. Ew.
oh shannon. that’s even crazier! this was one of those stories i debated keeping a secret for fear of what people would think. but somehow there’s always someone out there who knows exactly what you’re talking about.