They have been staring at me for weeks, maybe months. I placed them by the balcony door, so that I see them everyday when I open the sliding door in the morning, and hopefully to be able to find the mood to work on them.
They are my favourite pair of sports shoes, as was evident from the state they endured until they could no longer take it anymore and they broke down or tore, in this case.
The mood finally came. Well, not exactly, it came for a brief moment and was about to diminish when I pushed myself to grab the needle and thread, black thread. It made sense for black thread on a pair of black shoes.
I have mentioned in the past, mending is not exactly the most exciting project to work on, or one that I look forward to. But it is necessary to save my favourite pair of garment, or my favourite pair of shoes.
The truth is, it is not easy to find a garment or shoes that fit well and because of that, I tend to want to do all I can to prolong their lives. Although, when it came to cheaper stuffs like my favourite pair of skirt or pants, I usually would buy a few of the same size and design, just in case :)
I could have left them as they were. They looked quite rugged at first but the challenge was when I forget that they were there. With a pair of bright colored socks, they showed glaringly, as though they wanted to ooze out from the holes. Awkward. Plus, the holes were getting bigger each time I wore them and that would truly be the end of the shoes.
With a double thread, I started with the first poke through from inside out. It was quite fiddly at first but once I got the hang of it, it was quite okay.
And I went on and on, first from top to bottom, bottom to top, almost like embroidery but not really. The shoes had holes and I used them as guide at first but it did not last long.
I continued stitching, after reaching the end of the hole, I reversed and stitiched cross the earlier stitches, to strengthen the stitches.
I went on for a few rounds, until it became horizontal stitches. I think I stitched about 3 to 4 rounds before I decided that the stitches are quite strong to avoid my toenails to poke another hole at the same location. Then, it was the other pair's turn.
Like I said, this is not the most interesting project but a necessary one. The best part to mending is that the result is always, always very satisfying because you get to wear your favourite again.
I was half thinking of adding maybe a flower or a simple embroidery but that would scream loud. The last thing I wanted for this pair of shoes is for the mending to be prominent. I wanted to keep them looking as "professional "as they could as a pair of good ol' sports shoes.
Here they are, plain, simple, unassuming and hopefully, unnoticable but most importantly, wearable again :)
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Here's wishing everyone a good week and take care!
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