We originally had a dowel in my pull out cubby that is pictured above but switched to that perfect tear holder from amazon. (We have used a vertical one like that for years and it works great!) With the dowel the towels came out too fast. Some mentioned they might be too messy to use a towel holder like mine, but my hands are often messy and you're just grabbing the towel. No need to touch the cabinetry really. To change a towel, yes- but in any case to change the towels you have to touch things to get the new towels, etc. I LOVE it so far- especially now with the perfect tear system. BTW, our cab guy had to take apart the Amazon holder and attach it. Mostly so that it was at the right height in the space. Here's a thread on paper towel cubbies I started. Here is a link that might be useful: My Towel Thread

I had both soapstone and marble in my last kitchen and never hesitated to put hot items on my soapstone, but I never did it with the marble. It wasn’t that difficult to use a trivet. I will say though that I rarely put hot items on the soapstone because it sucks the heat out of whatever you set down, which could be counter productive if you want to serve a hot meal. ;) But on the other hand, if I needed something to cool down quickly, set that puppy down on the soapstone! Or it was a lifesaver when all the trivets were in use and I had my hands full with hot pots! Didn’t have to panic. But marble, I would hesitate. It just seems more fragile by nature and so I babies it a little. I never sealed our honed marble and never had staining issues. It did etch but that just added to the character and the more It aged the better it looked IMO.

I wouldn't worry about it much - till it in or bury it somehow as soon as the soil can be worked. The worms will demolish it pretty quickly.

I have 1 t-shirt w/ woven silk inserts - & another top w/ a sheer woven band @ the hem. I believe both have been cut on the bias to allow a bit more 'give'. Not sure if that would work for eyelet or not, but I don't think I'd use a stretch stitch, but maybe a straight stitch w/ 12-15 stitches per inch - I was taught that the more stitches per inch, the more 'give' the seam will have & have made a number of things of jersey & other knits using straight stitching. You don't necessarily want every seam in a knit garment to stretch anyway. Can you test this on some scraps to avoid ruining anything?