MetaChat - AskMeCha: Anyone else put holes in the elbows of their shirts?

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15 February 2006

AskMeCha: Anyone else put holes in the elbows of their shirts? →[More:]I keep putting holes in my dress shirts. It's driving me crazy. I've been wearing dress shirts everyday for about 3 years now and in the last six months this has started. At first I just chalked it up to some shirts getting old, but today I put a hole in the right elbow of this fairly new shirt. And the left elbow on this shirt has already been patched up! I have half a dozen other shirts with patched-up left elbows - I think the left is more common because it is my "alt-tab" hand. This didn't happen until I moved to New York, but I can't find anything on this desk that would be the obvious culprit. What's wrong with me?

post by: mullacc at: 11:59 | 25 comments

Nope, it's just you. You're a FREAK.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 15 February | 12:00

Sharp elbows? New Yorkers are notorious for them.

posted by warbaby 15 February | 12:02

Is it possible your sleeves are too short, which is why they keep rubbing and breaking through?

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 15 February | 12:02

My husband does this constantly. I've always just chalked it up to the fact that big dudes are harder on their clothes. Are you tall, mullacc?

posted by jrossi4r 15 February | 12:05

I confess: I've been cutting out the elbows of your shirts with nail scissors while you sleep.

posted by Specklet 15 February | 12:05

Yeah, I'm sorta tall and big. But that's always been the case, so I don't understand why this has become a recent phenomenon. I don't think my sleeves are too short - the shoulder seam is in the right place and so are the cuffs.

I think it may be that my Brooks Bros shirts were getting old and this new shirt is crappy (it wasn't cheap, but it's the only time I've purchased the non-iron model from this brand).

Maybe I should try some moisturizer on my elbows. Or just quit sleeping at night to guard my closet from Specklet.

posted by mullacc 15 February | 12:13

You know what I do? Tear holes at the seam of the pocket on sweat pants. Cheap ones anyway. I am at the perfect height that the handles on all of the drawers in this house match up with the very top of my pockets and if I brush against one wearing sweat pants, it catches and tugs on the pocket. Usually resulting in a hole where the pocket attaches to the sweats. I have done this to about six different pair of sweat pants. *shakes head*

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 15 February | 12:17

We've had this discussion before. Yours is the left elbow, mine is the right. You're righty, I'm lefty. IT IS A MYSTERIE!?!!

A better solution would be to start sleeping at night WITH Specklet. Just wrap your arms tightly around her; she's a slippery minx.

posted by Eideteker 15 February | 12:26

That's probably what it is, mullacc. It may depend on how you wash them, too. Seems like he rips throw them a lot more now that he takes them to the cleaner than when we washed them at home. Starch maybe?

He has the weretable problem, too, but with his dress pants. Seems to catch the pockets on everything. (Or he has an overenthusiastic secret mistress. Specklet, perhaps?)

posted by jrossi4r 15 February | 12:31

I'm wearing a shirt with a hole in the left elbow right now. I have to roll up the sleeves because I can't afford to buy new shirts (not when there's so many CDs out there), and it's against my work dress code. Bah!
I have many shirts like this, but most of them now have holes in both elbows, as i refuse to throw them out. They're nice shirts otherwise. I'm tall and right handed. Perhaps we should start a chat room?

posted by Hellbient 15 February | 12:34

I'm short and right-handed and have a hole in the wrist area of my left hand. Two of my other sweaters have a very similar hole, and I can't for the life of me figure out how they got there. OCD moths?

posted by Specklet 15 February | 12:41

jrossi4r: I think you've figured it out. I used to wash all my non-iron shirts at home and not have them pressed (as per instructions). Now I send all my laundry out and I don't bother to segregate my non-iron dress shirts from the standard shirts. I ask for no starch, but the rest of the process is harsh enough, I suppose.

posted by mullacc 15 February | 12:41

Woot! I knew I read all those Encyclopedia Brown books for a reason.

posted by jrossi4r 15 February | 12:47

I confess: I lied about the nail scissors. But I ain't sayin' nothing about what's going on with your socks.

posted by Specklet 15 February | 13:16

Maybe the aliens in your elbow are trying to tunnel to freedom?

posted by fenriq 15 February | 13:23

i also have my dirty laundry handled by others. And we both have the double L in our nicks. Double weirdness.

posted by Hellbient 15 February | 13:51

My laundry is all sent out, and I don't have this problem. However, I used to have this problem when I wore a different brand of shirt, that in hindsight didn't fit quite as well.

I don't know if it's of any use, but I'm also a big, tall guy (18 1/2-37), and I wear Ike Behar dress shirts.

posted by mosch 15 February | 14:02

I used to when I was a kid, but strangely - not anymore.

posted by porpoise 15 February | 14:31

I wear Ike Behar dress shirts.

Ooh la la, moschy! I'll bet you look fantastic in them!

posted by Specklet 15 February | 14:34

I wear the left elbow out before the right, but it takes years. I blame it on the armrest in my car, actually -- fabric-on-fabric friction.

I often end up with a hole in the crotch of my boxers. I blame it on Spec- er, crotch elves.

posted by me3dia 15 February | 14:47

I believe mrgrimm has just what you need.

posted by danostuporstar 15 February | 14:48

It's not OK to have a jumper with leather patches.

posted by flopsy 15 February | 15:16

Hee!

posted by Specklet 15 February | 16:01

Reighties wearing out left side and verse visa suggest a resting modality to the abrasive action due to inaction of the offending limb. Try wearing your shirts backwards and see if the problem persists.

Either that or duct-tape Specklet in the evenings.

posted by warbaby 15 February | 19:15

New York cleaners are really hard on shirts. Not all of them, but most of them. Also, BB shirts have gone from wearable to complete crap in the last few years.

Walk on down (up) to Ascot Chang on 57th and 7th and invest in some real shirts. You'll thank me later.

posted by ikkyu2 15 February | 21:59

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