July 3, 2021
What do you do when a piece of clothing or other fabric item is damaged? Do you know how to mend clothes and linens yourself? Do you hire a tailor or seamstress to repair it? Or do you simply discard it (hopefully by recycling it)? At my house, it goes in my mending basket. This is nothing fancy — just an old wicker basket that holds clothing, curtains, blankets, and any other textiles in need of some sprucing up. Sitting still is not my strong suit, so my mending basket (along with a needle and thread) often accompany me on the couch when I’m watching TV. (My current favorite show is The Repair Shop Have you seen it?)
Mending is perfect for this purpose — it’s quite relaxing once you get the hang of it! It can also help you make your clothes and linens last longer (and look better), which means you can buy less. This both saves you money and reduces your waste! With all that in mind, I’m sure you’re excited to get started, right? If not, I recommend you shop around for an excellent local seamstress or tailor. That way, you can still get longer-lasting clothes and linens while also supporting a local business! For my fellow menders — or aspiring menders — out there, though, here are some terrific mending resources:
Resources for learning how to mend
Blogs and classes that will teach you how to mend clothes and linens
There are so many great resources online for learning to sew and mend!
- First things first, mending will be a lot easier if you know some basics about machine and hand sewing!
- Wren Bird Arts offers workshops as well as a wonderful blog full of information about visible mending and embroidery. (Their most recent blog post has inspired me to try darning the next pair of my socks that wears thin!)
- Worn values has some great mending how-tos, but I especially recommend it for the inspiration. The blog explores all things slow fashion, and applies a very “care to keep” mindset around keeping a wardrobe.
Books about mending clothes and linens
If you’ve read my book reviews, you know clothes, sewing, and mending are topics I enjoy reading about! Here are a few you might want to check out as you’re learning (or advancing) your own mending skills:
- Fix Your Clothes — The Sustainable Magic of Mending, Patching and Darning by Raleigh Briggs
- Little Fixes — 54 Clever Ways to Extend the Life of Kids’ Clothes By Disney Powless
- Mending Matters — Stitch, Patch, and Repair Your Favorite Denim & More By Katrina Rodabaugh (This book explores Sashiko sewing, which is a beautiful method of fabric repair!)
Products to help you mend clothes and linens
You don’t need much to get started with mending (the goal is to buy less and reduce waste, after all!), but there are some tools that can make the process easier (and end result more beautiful)! Here are a few mending products you might want to try out:
| I’m an affiliate with Etsy and Bookshop, two sites I feel great about supporting. Being an affiliate means that I promote them and may receive a small commission — with no added cost to you — if you make a purchase through one of my links. Thanks for supporting them and C2K! (I’m not affiliated with any other source links; they’re just resources I think you might be interested in!) |
- A sewing kit is a must-have for at home or on-the-go clothing and textile repair!
- These visible mending transfer patterns by Wren Bird Arts (I mention their blog above!) can help kick your visable mending up a notch!
- A hole in a garment can be a wonderful opportunity to embellish it with a peak-a-boo patch or an embroidered patch!
What items do you have in your home currently in need of mending? Let me know if you find any of the above resources helpful and/or if you’d like advice on how to mend a tricky item! And please share any of your own mending tips and resources in the comments!
Take good care,
P.S. You can access all of the C2K weekly letters in the Newsletter section of the blog! Maybe there’s a topic you want to revisit or a link you want to find. Or maybe you just recently joined us and would like to catch up and/or sign up!
For the latest posts, be sure to stop by the blog every Tuesday — next week I’ll be sharing some driving tips to help your car run better and longer! In the meantime, here are some posts you might want to visit this week:
Sewing Kits — How to make a sewing kit (new post!)
Prevent pilling — How to keep sweaters, bedding, and other items from pilling
How to machine wash stuffed animals
