My aunt made this cushion many years ago. It’s a Lord of the Rings themed cushion. The silk had become fragile and tattered from use, so I patched and stitched it. I used a slightly shinier, iridescent stuff to patch behind the silk. You can just about make it out below.
Visible mending is a decorativeway to fix up an item. Instead of trying to make your mend as invisible as possible, the idea is to make it part of the garment’s design.
Visual mending is not a single technique: it’s more of a mindset. If you’ve got an item you love, it deserves to be mended, and if you’re going to put that love into stitches, why not show them off?
That being said, there are some specific techniques that are popularwith visible menders. Let’s take a look!
Sashiko:
Sashiko is a type of traditional Japanese embroidery that is used to both decorateandreinforcefabric. In visible mending, sashiko is often used to cover up holes with patches or to reinforce thinning fabric. This technique uses a variation on the running stitch.
(Image source) [ID: sashiko stitch diagram: the distance between each stitch is ½ stitch in length.]
Someresourceson sashiko:
SashiCo on YouTube: sashiko livestreams and information on the cultural aspect of sashiko.
(Image source) [ID: three examples of sashiko embroidery on jeans fabric.]
(Image source) [ID: sashiko embroidery with white thread on blue jeans fabric.]
Embroidery:
Regularembroideryis also a popular technique to accentuateyour mends. Check out my embroidery 101 post to learn how to get started. You can embroider patches, or use embroidery to hide or accentuateany stitches you’ve made to fix holes. Embroidery’s also a great way to cover up stains.
(Image source) [ID: colourful embroidery floss covers a worn sleeve edge of a jeans jacket]
(Image source) [ID: colourful flower embroidery surrounds a hole in a pair of dark gray jeans. Fabric with a red and black flower print peaks out of the hole.]
Patches:
There are many ways to add patchesto a garment. My tutorial on patches is a good place to start if you want to make custom-shapedpatches to sew on top of your fabric. You can also sew your patch on the insideof your garment and have it peek out from beneath the hole you’re trying to fix. Fun ideas for this are laceorsuperheroes.
(Image source) [ID: Spiderman peaking out of a rip in a pair of blue jeans.]
(Source) [ID: a red flannel heart-shaped elbow patch on a gray knitted sweater.]
Darning:
Darning is a technique used to repair holes in fabric by using running stitchestoweaveextra fabric over the hole as to fill it up again. While traditionally darning is done in an invisibleway by using the same colour of thread as your fabric, you can also use contrastingcolours to accentuate your fix. Check out this written tutorial on darning by TheSpruceCrafts.
(Image source) [ID: vintage instructions on how to darn a hole.]
(Image source) [ID: four examples of darning on blue fabric with colourful contrasting thread.]
Conclusion:
Visible mending is a creative way to fix up your clothes and give them some personality at the same time.
You should be proudof the fact that you took the time and learned the necessary skills needed to mend your clothes! Show off what you did!
A fun side effect of wearing these obvious mends is that people will notice them. They’ll remember your fixes the next time they’re faced with a hole in their wardrobe, and it will make them more likely to try it for themselves.
These are just a few ways to visibly mend your garments. Want more inspiration? Check out Pinterestorr/Visiblemending on Reddit.
[Image description: Three photos of someone darning a patch into a knitted garment. The garment is made up out of yellow, white, and pink sections, and the darned patched are gray, pink, and navy blue. /end image description]
As the Imperial War Museum in London opens its exhibition on Clothes Rationing and Fashion in WWII, this excellent retro-modern advice (at 2.14): “Ladies: you may be sure that every garment made with “Make Do And Mend” is entirely exclusive…”
But do listen to the Harrods lady with the startling diction to see what happens to 1940s man when we take our remaking seriously.
Did you unpack your sweaters for winter only to find those little bastards had been pigging out all summer? Take action now! I do it with spice. Cedar is weak and mothballs are poisonous, but this: fragrant, easy, cheap and works.
Get cinnamon sticks, cloves, lavender buds and bay leaves, heavy on the lavender. Take old tights, no matter the state of them, and stuff some of the spices and flowers in the toes and knot the leg: done. Hang these in closets, stuff in between sweaters. I also like pretty dishes of ground cinnamon and cloves, with some lavender and bay, sitting around, pot pourri-like. Oh and, if it’s too late, try the visible mends below.
Here’s a fun little stash buster while you’re waiting for your next Dracula Daily mail: a crocheted bat appliqué, designed by Damnit Janet, let’s crochet.
Smallappliqués like these are a neat way to cover holes in knitwear, to make accessories, or to decorate clotheswith.
(Image source) [ID: two small crocheted bats lying on a gray background. One bat is black and has black wings while the other bat is brown with black wings. Both have large, cartoony eyes made of white felt. Text: “Damn it Janet, let’s crochet! http://damnitjanetletscrochet.blogspot.com/”.]
I am learning visible mending so I can repair some clothes i own that are getting pretty old and hole-y! Starting with a patch on this large rip that i think came out pretty well! It looks like a cloud so maybe as i repair other holes i can make a “sky” sort of theme.
for anyone interested in mending, i recommend the speedweve (or other darning loom brand) for patching up holes in clothes!!
it’s easy to use and fun, you can make cool patterns with it :D and extending the lifespan of your clothes is good for saving money and the environment too
it looks like this and you can get different sizes (usually 12 pin, 14 pin or 28 pin) and i found 12 is perfect for darning socks. it’s about $10 on amazon, but if you’re like me and try to avoid using amazon there are other sites too, like this one (where i got the image from), but they can be a bit more expensive… it’s worth looking around to get one for a good price
i’ve only done socks so far but here are some pics of what i’ve done (the patch in the first pic’s not great but it was one of my first attempts!!):
you can find tutorials like this on youtube and patterns on blogs like this
Visible mending is a decorativeway to fix up an item. Instead of trying to make your mend as invisible as possible, the idea is to make it part of the garment’s design.
Visual mending is not a single technique: it’s more of a mindset. If you’ve got an item you love, it deserves to be mended, and if you’re going to put that love into stitches, why not show them off?
That being said, there are some specific techniques that are popularwith visible menders. Let’s take a look!
Sashiko:
Sashiko is a type of traditional Japanese embroidery that is used to both decorateandreinforcefabric. In visible mending, sashiko is often used to cover up holes with patches or to reinforce thinning fabric. This technique uses a variation on the running stitch.
(Image source) [ID: sashiko stitch diagram: the distance between each stitch is ½ stitch in length.]
Someresourceson sashiko:
SashiCo on YouTube: sashiko livestreams and information on the cultural aspect of sashiko.
(Image source) [ID: three examples of sashiko embroidery on jeans fabric.]
(Image source) [ID: sashiko embroidery with white thread on blue jeans fabric.]
Embroidery:
Regularembroideryis also a popular technique to accentuateyour mends. Check out my embroidery 101 post to learn how to get started. You can embroider patches, or use embroidery to hide or accentuateany stitches you’ve made to fix holes. Embroidery’s also a great way to cover up stains.
(Image source) [ID: colourful embroidery floss covers a worn sleeve edge of a jeans jacket]
(Image source) [ID: colourful flower embroidery surrounds a hole in a pair of dark gray jeans. Fabric with a red and black flower print peaks out of the hole.]
Patches:
There are many ways to add patchesto a garment. My tutorial on patches is a good place to start if you want to make custom-shapedpatches to sew on top of your fabric. You can also sew your patch on the insideof your garment and have it peek out from beneath the hole you’re trying to fix. Fun ideas for this are laceorsuperheroes.
(Image source) [ID: Spiderman peaking out of a rip in a pair of blue jeans.]
(Source) [ID: a red flannel heart-shaped elbow patch on a gray knitted sweater.]
Darning:
Darning is a technique used to repair holes in fabric by using running stitchestoweaveextra fabric over the hole as to fill it up again. While traditionally darning is done in an invisibleway by using the same colour of thread as your fabric, you can also use contrastingcolours to accentuate your fix. Check out this written tutorial on darning by TheSpruceCrafts.
(Image source) [ID: vintage instructions on how to darn a hole.]
(Image source) [ID: four examples of darning on blue fabric with colourful contrasting thread.]
Conclusion:
Visible mending is a creative way to fix up your clothes and give them some personality at the same time.
You should be proudof the fact that you took the time and learned the necessary skills needed to mend your clothes! Show off what you did!
A fun side effect of wearing these obvious mends is that people will notice them. They’ll remember your fixes the next time they’re faced with a hole in their wardrobe, and it will make them more likely to try it for themselves.
These are just a few ways to visibly mend your garments. Want more inspiration? Check out Pinterestorr/Visiblemending on Reddit.
I love visible mending as a concept but my clothes only tear in places where i can’t think of a remotely reasonable way to mend them with colorful thread and. End up actually wearing them
