Question for those who sew... I have some flannel pajama bottoms with an opening at the front that I want to close up. There is doubled-up cloth there, like where a zipper would go, but no zipper.
What type of stitch would you use to close this?
My mending is very un-trained and mostly visible sock darning or reattaching buttons. But this seems like there should be a proper stitch type to learn for sealing two overlapping flaps of cloth neatly.
mushrooms are for darning.
(yay! I got a darning mushroom for my birthday!)
#mushrooms #mending
Mend of the day: I had worn down the lining on the heel of my slippers, so I patched them with a bit of felt I had in my stash.
#mending
What can you help mend? Excerpt from
"Mending Mittens" by Larry Schug:
"Blessed be those who are forever fixing
the tear between people and the rest of life.
May we all have enough thread,
may our needles be sharp,
may our fingers not throb or go numb."
https://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2013/03/larry-schug-mending-mittens.html
one year ago i was asked to participate in a crafters interview which didn’t get published. i was recently reminded of it as i remembered mentioning i was working on restoring a blanket.
thought i’d look it up today and decided to just publish it on my own, rounding it up with more thoughts on the blanket mending process.
fun fact! i discovered i submitted the interview and finished my blanket on the exact same day, one year apart!
https://launshae.com/blog/an-interview-a-year-on-and-blankie/
The days of being told that #repair isn't an important part of a garment's life cycle are gone. I hope this will also lead to a change in the way that repair is perceived in our society; as a skilled and valuable #craft that deserves to be invested in and as a powerful environmental and political act.
Repairing Our Clothes
Thanks to the latest WRAP report (Feb 2025) we finally have some statistics about how choosing to #repair our #clothes and buying #SecondHand is having an impact.
A few key points >>>
This shows that we’re placing value on the pieces already in our wardrobes, showing the #BigCompanies that we don’t want to keep replacing items,
my mum and i both used this blankie over the years and it was getting very brittle and tattered. to try to restore it, i first removed the backing, then cleaned up all the loose thread inside.
[2/3]
Mended the inside pocket of one of my favorite hoodies. My keys had poked a hole that was steadily growing but not any more!
When you've mended the same threadbare but still serviceable thing so many times you need to do it colourful, for morale. Terrible photo, but I already put the damn thing away and can't be bothered to dig it up again! 
Anyone have a guide on how to identify well-made clothes? I was taught long ago, but I've forgotten the specifics and would not describe it well.
The reason I ask is that cheap clothes are usually much harder to mend. The allowances are small, there are no extra buttons, the materials barely hold a stitch, it all kind of wears out at once.
Better made stuff has enough *there* there to put it back together.
(Bernadette Banner's vid has been linked a number of times, thanks!)
Since I’m boycotting Amazon this week, I finally started tackling my mending pile.
First up, socks. I’m a little embarrassed that I’ve reached the age of 50-something and I’ve never darned a sock before. Anyway, here it is, my first darned sock!
I’m going to start using the hashtag #MendDontSpend
Question for more experienced/knowledgeable hand sewers — what's a good stitch for attaching a stretchy patch to a stretchy garment? I assume I need something with some elasticity, that can be worked around the edge of the patch. Thanks!
I’ve just mended a well loved (and worn) merino alpine technical hoodie (holes and failing seams), with red sashiko thread and old wool socks (themselves with holes beyond repair).
It took me some time to remember how to properly do the « blanket stitch » :) but it was the right choice (elasticity, edge management, aesthetics).
Pretty pleased with the result, we’ll see how it holds!
Trotz frühlingshaften Temperaturen ist immer noch #WinterOfCareAndRepair ! Heute: Löcher wegzaubern. Methode 1 war etwas umständlich. Methode 2 finde ich doch ziemlich elegant 
The fabric is also a giant patch. I sewed the ripped edges onto it. Not invisible, but not terribly ugly, either. I would definitely have handled the zipper differently if I were making it new, but I left most of the construction as 11 or 12 year old Sarah designed it.
I'm satisfied!
But alas, the fabric is giving out. The first step was to put a new piece of fabric behind the batik, just a tad smaller so it will take the mechanic stress instead of the more fragile batik. I took the opportunity to finish the seams, since I hadn't done that all those years ago.
When I was about 11, I made this batik in art class. About a year later, I sewed it together with a bit of dark purple velvet and put a zipper at the end. Stuff an old bed pillow in it and it makes a perfect back cushion for my desk chair.
