Comments on: What should I do with my elbowless shirts?

Question: What should I do with my elbowless shirts?

zeoslap — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:08:45 -0800

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?

By: box

box — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:11:20 -0800

Make a dress-shirt quilt.

By: snugglebunny

snugglebunny — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:13:27 -0800

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.

By: Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell

Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:14:59 -0800

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.

By: grouse

grouse — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:23:09 -0800

How did you get a hole in the left elbow of so many shirts?

By: jocelmeow

jocelmeow — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:23:30 -0800

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?

By: mullacc

mullacc — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:37:39 -0800

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.

By: NotMyselfRightNow

NotMyselfRightNow — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:52:35 -0800

Find a local preschool, kindergarten, or elementary school and donate them to the art program so the kids have smocks.

By: craven_morhead

craven_morhead — Sun, 10 May 2009 11:06:31 -0800

I want to know the answer to grouse's question

By: pseudostrabismus

pseudostrabismus — Sun, 10 May 2009 11:30:20 -0800

Save them for summer and roll the sleeves? I've always thought rolled shirtsleeves are the absolute hottest thing a guy can wear.

By: Freen

Freen — Sun, 10 May 2009 11:37:42 -0800

I second donating them for use as smocks: kids need em.

By: kimota

kimota — Sun, 10 May 2009 12:04:40 -0800

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.

By: FlamingBore

FlamingBore — Sun, 10 May 2009 13:26:43 -0800

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.

By: Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell

Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell — Sun, 10 May 2009 13:41:32 -0800

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?

By: zeoslap

zeoslap — Sun, 10 May 2009 15:26:57 -0800

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.

By: gushn

gushn — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:42:10 -0800

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!

By: zeoslap

zeoslap — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:22:52 -0800

@gusn I did that all winter too :)

By: chrisubus

chrisubus — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:36:41 -0800

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!