Per my post earlier this morning, in which I mentioned that I had mended a blouse, I wondered whether that would be what other folks did in the circumstances.
I will mend something if it's a good piece and worth my while. Dress pants, for instance: I have a pair that needs a new hook-and-eye sewn on. But a t-shirt that's frayed at the seam I will likely use for rags (since there are a lot of call for rags in my life with pets and kids).
I don't darn socks, though. My grandmother would be disappointed in me but, then, today's socks aren't sturdy knits such as I remember learning to repair.
Shop-bought socks and pop-socks may get cobbled together once. After that, they get thrown out. However, since I knit a lot of my own socks, *those* get darned.
If it´s a few years old, I´ll mend it. If it´s starting to fray or wear out, it´ll be moved to the ´wear around the house´ pile afterwards. If it´s already been moved there, I may ditch it or cut it up for patchwork fabric, unless it´s a favourite item (then I'll wear it until it's totally hopeless).
*nods* If I sewed patchwork that would be a cool thing to do with worn-out stuff. I do wear the more frayed or stained things for cleaning and gardening and so forth.
Items in need of mending tend to sit in my closet for years, awaiting the day I actually sit down to the task. In the meantime, I...wear them. Please don't look for holes if you ever meet me in person! M
I have this bad habit of stopping wearing favorite things when they're not quite to the threadbare stage; it's like I don't want to wear them to the point where I'll have to let them go.
My favorite pair of jeans is rapidly becoming more mend than jean. I've patched the inside seam (one patch on the inside of the jeans, the other on the outside, because I like seeing bright colored patches), the holes in the knee are now covered by a butterfly patch (which I've embroidered over), and I added a second butterfly on the pocket on the opposite side, for balance (and for fun).
I think they'll need more embroidery soon, and maybe patches in a couple of other places. In the next month, maybe.
I've gone further than mending, though. I'll re-sew shirts which don't fit well (my cross-shoulder is much smaller than commercial shirts accommodate, especially ones which fit my bust), and I've done artistic work on shirts which are stained but still fit well.
I grew up wearing second hand clothes, does it show?
Have you seen my pictures of my younger sister's patchworkjeans? She made them when she was a student, and has lost enough weight to get back into them now... They started out as mending-patchwork, then she just covered the whole thing!
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I don't darn socks, though. My grandmother would be disappointed in me but, then, today's socks aren't sturdy knits such as I remember learning to repair.
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I think they'll need more embroidery soon, and maybe patches in a couple of other places. In the next month, maybe.
I've gone further than mending, though. I'll re-sew shirts which don't fit well (my cross-shoulder is much smaller than commercial shirts accommodate, especially ones which fit my bust), and I've done artistic work on shirts which are stained but still fit well.
I grew up wearing second hand clothes, does it show?
Stasia
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Stasia
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