Sometimes "Old" is just "Old"

 Now that I am 50 years old I like to try to find better words to describe aging gracefully....

I like "seasoned", "skilled", "versed", "wise", "enduring", "constant",   "dignified", "experienced", "sage", "enlightened", "reflective"....oh the list can go on and on :) But not all things age for the better. Sometimes old is just old. You may remember that I made fun jammies for my grandsons for Christmas. Well about 2 days later, my 2 oldest grandsons had HUGE holes in the knees of their pj pants. Now normally I would chalk it up to them being boys (see this is where my "experience" comes into play :) Well their mom asked me if I could patch them up. I finally got around to fixing them, but as soon as I took my trusty seam ripper to them, the fabric itself started to fall apart. The actual threads that make up the flannel was so old and brittle that it just had no strength left at all. During the holidays, I bought this black flannel in the discount section of one of my favorite fabric stores. It never dawned on me that being black flannel, it may have been there forever!
So off I went to Joann's to buy some new flannel and start over from scratch. Even the woman at the cutting table asked me what I was making because not many people buy black flannel. I brought it home and washed it. It's soft and strong and now I'm one happy Nana :) Just to be on the safe side (again this is where my years of "experience" come into play)  I took 2 strips of flannel 5" by the width of the pant leg and used iron on batting strips that I cut 4 1/'2" by width of the pant leg and fused the pieces together. I then folded the extra flannel over to the backside and pressed it. Then I "quilted" the knee pads with a straight stitch 1" apart. I used the torn pj's as a guide to where the knee pads should go. I stitched the knee pads in place and then proceeded to sew the pants together as I normally would. Now the jammies are smooth on the inside with no seams to bother their knees and padded on the outside just in case they "happen" to slide across the tile floor at home :) I'm told that boys do that sometimes :)