A modest mend
Small, imperfectly formed visible repair on my Toast jeans
Someone asked me recently if I actively go looking in charity shops for damaged clothes to repair. I don't usually but as I’ve written before, I do find it incredibly satisfying to find garments that are in need of TLC.
For one thing, I know that if I don't buy them and fix them up, they might get sent for recycling or worse, landfill. An otherwise perfect garment, destroyed because it has a small hole, loose hem, or it is simply missing a button. This is the downside to finding damaged garments in charity shops; it always gets me thinking that if the original owner had the skills to repair it, perhaps it would have been cherished instead of chucked!
How have we got to the point where people cannot sew on a button? (I know the answer to this but it is still nonsensical to me). I appreciate I’m not responsible for saving every single garment I see - I still only buy things that I love - but it feels good to know that I can keep something in use for longer.
The other reason I am often thrilled to find a damaged piece is that its an excuse for me to put my stamp on it. The dopamine hit I experienced when I discovered a perfect pair of Toast jeans with a small hole on the right leg was enough to sent me sprinting home to my mending kit.
This little hole almost didn't need to be repaired as it wasn't in an area of stress or strain so probably wouldn't worsen significantly unless it got caught on something. I do a lot of darning so decided to do something different with this one. I opted for a sashiko-inspired visible mend.
Sashiko is a Japanese form of repair for patching textiles using small stitches, or 'little stabs'. It can be useful for very simple repairs like this one, or made far more elaborate with intricate designs.
The photos don’t really do it justice as in reality the denim is darker and the pink pops far more than you can see here.
Here's how I did this modest little mend:
I cut a small patch of denim and pinned it to the back of the hole
Even though it was going to be a small repair, I wanted to find a contrasting colour that would be really visible. Hot pink was the perfect choice
I sewed small horizontal stitches across the hole to secure the patch at the back
Bringing the thread through to the back I knotted it to finish.
This is a simple, effective repair, and its a good example to demonstrate to people how easy it is to mend and personalise their clothes. I didn’t take process shots of this one but hopefully you can see how straightforward it is. Next time I use this technique with denim, I’ll find a thinner fabric for the patch as it was fiddly at times getting the needle through both layers of heavy cotton fabric.
A friend commented how neat it is - it's not perfect compared to many sashiko repairs I've seen but I don't need it to be. Instead of trying to cover or strengthen the hole, I wanted to make it a feature. I also want the repair to look accessible to others, not intimidating and unreachable. Imperfect is okay (I’ll keep telling myself this until I believe it!)
People often tell me that when they try repair the result is messy and they could never create something straight or tidy. I've learned through trial and error that if I want to achieve a fairly neat result with any mend, one important stage for me is planning. I need to have an idea of what I'm doing before starting, otherwise it can fall apart (not the stitches but the overall effect).
Here’s my mending kit for this repair:
Needle
Denim patch (an off-cut from some old jeans I turned into shorts)
Scissors
Pins
Pink cotton pearl embroidery thread
What’s coming up this week:
My mending pile: the knee patching continues, this time on my youngest son’s pyjama bottoms! I’m creating patches using cotton jersey off-cuts, snipped from other old clothes that had reached the end of their useful life. But he seems to have grown overnight so I’m not sure they’ll even fit him after this heatwave is over. At least they’ll be in good working order when I hand them over to my little nephew.
Next week on The Mending Kit: a vintage cardigan I recently snapped up from yet another local charity shop.
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