Folk might be interested to know that across the month of May, Sustainable Fashion Week’s #MendItMay campaign invites people to mend one piece of clothing, celebrating repair as an act of empowerment.
I think I'll have a go at my #mending pile. If anyone wants to share mending projects or #craft pics, that'd be lovely.
The stats for why #repair is great are pretty compelling:
A question for menders: when/how do you decide if the fabric of a much-mended garment is worn too thin to be worth mending again (and it's therefore time for deconstruction/repurposing/compost etc)? #mending#VisibleMending
Finished the last round of #mending on these jeans.
Just in time so I'll have something to wear while I repair my other pair. I was annoyed about the other pair needing to be repaired again - until I realized I've had these jeans for about 20 years, so they've held up shocking well.
Hey, mending people? I have these cotton knee socks that have a thinning bit under the heel that I'd rather darn before it becomes a hole, but am uncertain about what to use. I have a cat that eats yarn so ideally I'd use any and all of the cotton thread I have, but is there some trick to it?
Doubled up thread, double-double thread? I'd assume you'd just darn as normal, just smaller, but does anyone have direct experience?
Your periodical reminder that all clothing is hand made by humans, usually underpaid!
Polyester doesn't breathe and sheds microplastics when manufactured, worn and washed!
Cotton farming takes immense amounts of water and pesticides!
Viscose can be made from recycled fibres & waste cellulose, but it's a fairly toxic process!
Linen is more ecological to grow but expensive!
@xgebi I'm happy to report that there's a pretty significant #Mending culture that is on the rise. And creative and joyful #VisibleMending often elevates it to an art form. We used to fix our clothes instead of getting rid of them, all we need to do is appreciate everything that goes into them!
These are just my thoughts on the topic and I think I came up with a potential solution. I'm sure others have already come up with this and this has been discussed before. But I figured I should get this one out anyway. Maybe we'll finally find something that everyone can be happy with....
So my son wanted to reach his friends and rushed off only to fall over and make this hole in his rain pants 🙄 Is there a way I can fix this? #mending#handmade#HandCraft#sewing
Last year I wrote up a mega thread with lots of links about mending textiles. I’ve compressed and reorganized it as a very old school webpage on neocities in hopes of making it a bit easier to use:
More duplicate stitch for another thin spot. The patch is in Knitted Wit "progress pride" and I love it on teensy stuff like this, so it'll probably make a few more appearances this month.
Today's #MarchMending project is socks! These ones had gotten thin but didn't have a hole yet, so I'm using duplicate stitch.
Most common question: can you feel this patch? Yes! But I find after wearing the socks for a few minutes it gets squished and I stop noticing. I've definitely never gotten a blister from a mend (and I'm extremely prone in that spot of my foot otherwise!)
Darning loom from Katrinkles: https://katrinkles.com/collections/mending
(And it looks like they're running virtual workshops if you want to learn how to use one!) The loom works for woven patches but I like it for duplicate stitch too because of the way it stays put.
This state of tiredness when I'd like to mindlessly #backstitch my way through some #sewing or rather #mending project; there are trousers with a knee hole near me, but I haven't cut or pinned a reverse patch to stitch in, and haven't picked, projected or traced the pattern to follow with my stitches.
Completely unprepared! 🙈
People who mend clothes: at what point do you give up on fixing a garment and repurpose it for cleaning rags or scrap fabric?
I ask because I end up having to mend a lot of clothes (especially my boyfriend's; he's pretty rough on his clothes) multiple times a year. It's not my stitches failing, it's the actual fabric wearing to basically paper thickness all over.
Very cute little stop motion animated documentary about #knitting and #mending. My knitting mojo has been gone for a while, but I can feel it flickering back to life… https://vimeo.com/827066711 🧶
Started and finished a little alteration or #Mending project to soothe my brain wrinkles:
The neck opening of this linen shift was a bit too large and quite worn, so I decided I'd piece together a lace insert for it. Just zigzag stitch to sew strips of cotton lace together. I had a very light gray thread in my #Sewing machine so I just used that.
Put some really pretty small and simple top stitching on the edges of the lace insert, to keep the very corner from fraying as quickly. This is not as durable or practical as the neckline with a drawstring used to be, but it's certainly much prettier!
I fully expect having to pick cat hair out of the lace and having to replace it at some point. 😄 But it's a finished #Mending so that's nice!
@sewing #mending
After a little advice please, as a not very practiced seamstress,
I have a blouse that I want to add a panel into the sleeves to make them a bit more roomy, if I unpick the seam how easy is it likely to be to add an extra piece of fabric.
Can anyone recommend any stitchers who might have online tutorials, I've looked but can't find anything really useful,
Thanks in advance 👍
“A mended garment is a little piece of artwork that you wear around all day, on display like a living gallery wall, eliciting comments, starting conversations, an opening sentence to a good story.”
― Nina and Sonya Montenegro, Mending Life: A Handbook for Repairing Clothes and Hearts
Not perfect but I learned how to mend holes in my sweater!!
Tip: use a whip stitch, embroidery thread (or butcher's string like I used), and a sashiko needle. I learned this tip from Socorro Society, a woman committed to spreading the word about mending, reusing clothing.
@inquiline@DeliaChristina I've been trying, too. Motivated by tears in favourite (and nearly worn-out) shirts. You can see it quite easily in the photos but, under realistic light, my mother (who's sewn all her life) took a fair few seconds to see where my needle had been.
It's nice to see mending becoming normalised again.
Another Anvil/Mending Fix idea
These are just my thoughts on the topic and I think I came up with a potential solution. I'm sure others have already come up with this and this has been discussed before. But I figured I should get this one out anyway. Maybe we'll finally find something that everyone can be happy with....