Mending is one of those historical skills that has made a come-back. While it was primarily utilitarian at one time, it's taken on new life and prestige as an art and craft in it's own right. Because of that, it's worth defining some terms:
- Plain mending - utilitarian patching, darning, and repair
- Visible mending - decorative, such as boro, sashiko, embroidery, fancy patchwork
- Invisible mending - re-weaving or re-knitting cloth to look like the original fabric
Because mending is a desirable self-sufficiency skill, I've blogged about some of my plain mending (such as mending socks) and some of my visible mending (such as my barn jacket). Recently, I decided to try my hand at invisible mending.
To learn on, I chose my favorite denim work skirt. I discovered the beginnings of a small hole when I hung it out to dry on the clothesline.
The repair required finding threads that matched the colors of the fabric.
Even though the blue threads are a dark blue close up, I chose a medium blue
thread because it blended better with the overall impression of color.
I'm not patient enough to do fine, close work, ordinarily. But this was small
enough that it didn't take long, although one of those crafter's magnifying
lenses would have been helpful. A blunter needle would have been helpful, as
well. The sharps needle kept catching the white threads.
I also want to note that I didn't try to replicate the twill weave; I just did
the best I could at picking up threads to weave through. The goal is so that
the hole isn't noticeable at a couple of feet away. Do you think I succeeded?
A fancier weave or multiple colors would certainly make it more challenging.
Assuming one is up to that challenge!
All in all, I think this is a useful technique to learn. The end result of
plain mending chore or play clothes probably has low expectations for most of
us. But learning how to properly mend career, dress, or town clothes is both a
budget and a landfill saver. What's not to like about that?
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