What should I do with my elbowless shirts?

May 10, 2009 10:08 AM

What should I do with ten nice dress shirts that all have a hole in the left elbow?

They seem too nice to just toss but I'm really at a loss what to do with them. Any ideas?

posted by zeoslap to clothing, beauty, & fashion (17 comments total)

Make a dress-shirt quilt.
posted by box at 10:11 AM on May 10

When my boyfriend had a nice long-sleeved shirt with a hole in an elbow, I cut off the sleeves for him and now he has a nice short-sleeved shirt. If you're good with sewing, try this. Otherwise, hopefully you have a friend who might be willing to help you out.
posted by snugglebunny at 10:13 AM on May 10

Are they not reparable? I suppose if you are into such things, you could bring (some of) them to a tailor and have them converted into short-sleeve button-downs. Might be nice to have some nicer short-sleeve shirts with summer approaching.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 10:14 AM on May 10

How did you get a hole in the left elbow of so many shirts?
posted by grouse at 10:23 AM on May 10 [1 favorite]

If you have or know a toddler, you could make a toddler dress like this or this one or this one. Or if you don't mind doing a little patching of the holes, make toddler pants. (I just happened to have run across this slew of tutorials and projects recently.) For the future, maybe reinforce the left elbow failure point with some iron-on interfacing to prevent the holes?
posted by jocelmeow at 10:23 AM on May 10 [2 favorites]

Just have the tailor patch them up. Depending on the color and pattern of the shirts, it's not that noticable.

I had this problem for a while, but I could never figure out the cause. Eventually I moved to a different desk at work and the problem went away.
posted by mullacc at 10:37 AM on May 10

Find a local preschool, kindergarten, or elementary school and donate them to the art program so the kids have smocks.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 10:52 AM on May 10 [1 favorite]

I want to know the answer to grouse's question
posted by craven_morhead at 11:06 AM on May 10

Save them for summer and roll the sleeves? I've always thought rolled shirtsleeves are the absolute hottest thing a guy can wear.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 11:30 AM on May 10 [1 favorite]

I second donating them for use as smocks: kids need em.
posted by Freen at 11:37 AM on May 10

Can't answer for zeoslap, and maybe people were hoping for a funnier answer, but I've noticed several of my dress shirts wear out starting with the right elbow. I believe that's because I mouse with my right hand, which means my right elbow is resting on the desktop (and brushing against it) far more often than my left.
posted by kimota at 12:04 PM on May 10

While I think pseudostrabismus might need to get out a little more, I agree with the idea - roll them puppies up for a casual night out.
posted by FlamingBore at 1:26 PM on May 10

I started noticing that a particular spot on the left leg of several pairs of pants was getting worn. I finally realized that a slightly protruding screw underneath my desk was rubbing against my knee whenever I crossed my left leg over my right. Taped it over, haven't had a problem since. I wonder if perhaps the OP had something wonky sticking out of the arm of a desk chair or the like, and didn't realize it for a long while?
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 1:41 PM on May 10

Thanks for the ideas guys, I have a three year old so the toddler dress might be just the ticket! If that doesn't work out I'll see about getting them converted to shortsleeved.

Regards why I have so many, it's just that I hang onto em every time it happens and they've just sort of multiplied, and I'm pretty sure it's desk related, there is an ever so slight lip on the edge of it that I think over time wears it away, my right arm is usually mousing and so is laid flatter on the desk. I also noticed that one of my shoes was turning metallic looking and finally figured out I was hooking my foot around a support under the desk.
posted by zeoslap at 3:26 PM on May 10

I save 'em for wintertime and wear them underneath a v-neck sweater. As long as the cuff is still in place, you're good to go!
posted by gushn at 6:42 PM on May 10

@gusn I did that all winter too :)
posted by zeoslap at 10:22 PM on May 10

Ugh! My husband's shirts are all doing this, too. He's totally not a short-sleeve wearing kind of guy, so the shirts are all just gathering dust and resentment!
posted by chrisubus at 9:36 AM on May 12