# What's 'e got in 'is pocketses? And what's 'e supposed to do with them!? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 2, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-e-got-in-is-pocketses-and-whats-e-supposed-to-do-with-them/724022 "2015-07-02T04:31:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-e-got-in-is-pocketses-and-whats-e-supposed-to-do-with-them/724022/1 "2015-07-02T04:31:39Z")
So I’m wearing a recently-bought pair of slacks for the first time today. I had the hems taken up a few centimeters, and had assumed they’d just be tucked and sewn. I just stepped out for lunch, and when I stuck my wallet into my back pocket, what did I find stuffed in there but two thin, crumpled snippets of hem! Like a couple of sad, wrinkly little trouser foreskins. It was a bewildering discovery. What could they possibly think I would want with these useless remnants of minor tailoring? Is it just in case I have post-operative regret and want to have them sewn back on? Am I supposed to scrapbook them? What does one do with two 3cm strips of hem cloth? Suggestions gratefully accepted. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-e-got-in-is-pocketses-and-whats-e-supposed-to-do-with-them/724022/2 "2015-07-02T04:39:09Z")
Donate them to the Foundation for Unwanted Hem Snippets. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-e-got-in-is-pocketses-and-whats-e-supposed-to-do-with-them/724022/3 "2015-07-02T04:51:44Z")
Well, the tailor doesn’t have any use for them either. ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-e-got-in-is-pocketses-and-whats-e-supposed-to-do-with-them/724022/4 "2015-07-02T05:09:09Z")
Tying up very small parcels, attaching notes to pigeons’ legs, destroying household pests … ? ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-e-got-in-is-pocketses-and-whats-e-supposed-to-do-with-them/724022/5 "2015-07-02T05:39:30Z")
Maybe a couple of swallows could use one to carry a coconut. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-e-got-in-is-pocketses-and-whats-e-supposed-to-do-with-them/724022/6 "2015-07-02T05:52:04Z")
> [@Twoflower](#): > > Maybe a couple of swallows could use one to carry a coconut. African or? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-e-got-in-is-pocketses-and-whats-e-supposed-to-do-with-them/724022/7 "2015-07-02T06:28:30Z")
This seems to be standard practice for the alterations industry - I’ve had this happen with several different garments that I put in for alteration at different places. I think the intent is (or used to be) that you would keep these fabric scraps and if at some future point, you got a small tear or hole to the trouser, the seamstress would be able to patch it more invisibly with the scraps of native cloth than otherwise. Of course nowadays, people don’t patch clothing so much anyway. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-e-got-in-is-pocketses-and-whats-e-supposed-to-do-with-them/724022/8 "2015-07-02T06:31:55Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > This seems to be standard practice for the alterations industry - I’ve had this happen with several different garments that I put in for alteration at different places. > > I think the intent is (or used to be) that you would keep these fabric scraps and if at some future point, you got a small tear or hole to the trouser, the seamstress would be able to patch it more invisibly with the scraps of native cloth than otherwise. > > Of course nowadays, people don’t patch clothing so much anyway. This is the factual answer. I don’t hear about people patching tailored clothes much anymore but I know it was being done in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-e-got-in-is-pocketses-and-whats-e-supposed-to-do-with-them/724022/9 "2015-07-02T06:37:37Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Well, the tailor doesn’t have any use for them either. No? I would think that a month of heming would provide a resourceful tailor with sufficient material to stitch together a whole new pair of trousers! ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-e-got-in-is-pocketses-and-whats-e-supposed-to-do-with-them/724022/10 "2015-07-02T06:52:46Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I think the intent is (or used to be) that you would keep these fabric scraps and if at some future point, you got a small tear or hole to the trouser, the seamstress would be able to patch it more invisibly with the scraps of native cloth than otherwise. Just checked my other pockets and confirmed that there’s no little packet containing a spare button and scrap of patching cloth that’s sometimes included with business slacks. So, you’re probably right about the intent. However, as far as practical uses go, I think **Twoflower’s** swallow coconut sling is in the lead. (I will use the other hem to first trap a coconut.) ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-e-got-in-is-pocketses-and-whats-e-supposed-to-do-with-them/724022/11 "2015-07-02T14:37:11Z")
> [@Not\_Carlson](#): > > No? > I would think that a month of heming would provide a resourceful tailor with sufficient material to stitch together a whole new pair of trousers! Like the _mohel_ who saved up the foreskins to make a wallet. It was very convenient - if you stroked it gently it turned into a suitcase. Regards, Shodan