I have been doing Jiu-Jitsu at a local Martial Arts school for the past four or five years. Over that time I’ve bought three Jiu-Jitsu uniforms to wear in rotation. The original blue one I still have and the collar on the jacket is worn through from being held by my many opponents over the years. The bottoms have reinforced knee material sewn and repaired over the years by my sister and wife.
Last month I noticed my black uniform bottoms were getting worn on the right knee. The reinforcement material was coming off at the seam stitches and I didn’t want it to get torn off during a roll. My sister showed me how to do some simple sewing last year and I thought this would be a good time to use it to mend my uniform.
One night I got out my sewing kit, threaded a needle with strong black thread and started the repair. It was tough to keep the thread pattern tight so I went over it many times back and forth. The hardest part was tying off the thread so it didn’t come out of the uniform.
I’ve won the uniform once or twice now and it seems to be holding up during the Jiu-Jitsu grappling roll. Next it’s on to more mending projects like the pockets of one of my sweat pants.
