I haven't been sewing for months. My machine is broken, I am not sure how to fix it, and I felt a bit discouraged. Then, I saw a creative young woman making hand sewn patches roll across my feed and felt inspired to get back into sewing, starting with my first love ~ sewing by hand and mending clothing.
Potting around in the garden and working on a DIY build very often leads to rips in pants. And sometimes those rips are in none-too-fortunate places. As much as I would love to wear cute outfits to every work session, all of my current budget is directed to building supplies. So, these worn & torn pants need a round of patching to keep them going until replacements can be purchased.
From time to time I dream of making all of my own clothing but, really, I am more of a mender than a seamstress. When I was backpacking around Latin America all I had was the clothing in my pack and needed to make those clothes last as long as possible. That is when I first started patching clothing and learning how much I loved to sew.
That is also when I started creating sewing kits filled with the tools most needed for a mender on the go. Even now that I have a permanent living situation I still use my sewing kit, especially when I take my work outdoors.
I recently updated my Etsy shop to include a couple of mending kits, now at a 50 % discount! Check them out via my Etsy page! They contain cute fabric for patching, pins, needles, thread, and even a pair of embroidery scissors of high quality ~ basically everything you need to patch and mend while traveling!
Patching these pants took a few hours. There were many tears to mend. A couple of months ago I made a video all about my process for patching pants and why mending is so important. I think it contains some helpful advice for anyone new to visible (and invisible) mending:
After this successful day (well, two afternoons) spent mending these pants I am excited to move onto other projects. My sewing machine may still be busted but, I have some interesting hand sewn projects in mind for holiday gifts. Stay tuned for that!
