Dude, where's my drawstring?

Whoever invented sweatpants deserves a special award. They're comfortable, adjustable, cozy, great for lounging on a Sunday afternoon, and terrific for accommodating a pregnant lady's expanding belly. It's terrible, though, to pull your favorite pair out of the dryer and discover that the drawstring has found it's way out of the waistband and is lying in the bottom of the machine like a dehydrated worm.

Though it's tempting to throw out the pants instead of trying to re-thread the drawstring through the teeny, tiny holes, don't do it. Here are a couple of handy tricks to coax it back into place.

• Attach a large safety pin to one end of the string, then push it into the hole and work it through the drawstring channel using the pin as a grasping tool. It's easier to keep a hard metal safety pin between your fingers than the end of a drawstring made of the same fabric as the pants.

• Attach one end of the wayward string onto a straightened coat hanger, then thread it through the pants.

• If your drawstring has retracted into the pants, use a crochet hook to fish it back out.

Of course, to avoid this problem in the first place, tie the drawstring securely or fasten each end to the pants with a safety pin before washing.