One of my goals for this year was Fix It or Finish It February—in which I either fix projects that need a bit of tune up, or finish works in progress that have been languishing. Fix It February started off with some visible mending over the weekend. And now I have two garments that are back in rotation!
What is Visible Mending?
Visible mending is pretty much self-explanatory. A person mends a garment or object in a way that is visible to all and sundry. The idea is not limited to fixing fabric, as the Japanese art of kintsugi, using gold lacquer to mend pottery, has been circling around popular culture lately. It is both a functional skill to have and a way to artistically repurpose and extend the life of clothing. Added bonus, mending your close (visibly or invisibly) helps you save money and keep fabric out of landfills. Winning all around!
I haven’t really delved into the world of mending projects much before now. I try to be careful with my knits, but sometimes zippers or ^#$%#$ moths or small cat claws have other ideas. There’s a decent pile of projects to be mended, so I decided February would be “Fix It February” in which I begin to tackle that pile.
Larch Cardigan Sleeves
First up, my Larch Cardigan. I knit this cardigan in 2012, which according to calendars makes it 10 years old. (According to pandemic brains, pretty sure that was maybe 6 years ago?) I wear this cardigan a lot, sometimes on its own and sometimes as a layering piece under a coat. And when I wear it under a coat, I frequently am not as careful as I should be and get the sleeves caught in the zipper.
One of the holes had been there for a good long while and I could live with it as the stitches were staying together. The other had popped up fairly recently and the columns were running down. So it had to be put in time out until I fixed it.
I didn’t do the neatest job and this was literally my first darning project (that I can remember). But it works. I used a crochet hook to pick up the stitches that were dropping before stitching the hole itself. The yarn is leftover Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light from my Brewster Pullover, and is the same yarn Larch was knit with (obviously in a different color).
Painted Pullover
My original Painted Pullover ( pattern available in knit.purl Fall/Winter 2015) was knit in a worsted weight yarn. Pretty sure it was Harrisville Watershed but don’t quote me on that. Anyway, I knit it in a worsted weight and kept that version for myself, and I’m pretty sure some !#$%!#^$ moths ate part of it.
I was much more deliberate with mending this sweater since the whole is front and slightly off center on my chest. I used a more traditional weaving technique with some yarn scraps I had in the house. The color complements but isn’t matchy matchy and I’m tempted to weave more spots onto this sweater just because. We’ll see what happens though, there is still a list of things to fix.
Upcoming Visible Mending Projects
I have at least two more sweaters that need to be mended, and I’ve ordered a small darning loom kit from Katrinkles that I plan to use. There are a couple of projects that require my sewing machine too. One pair of store bought jeans separated at a seam in the fly shield, and a sweatshirt pocket is coming loose.
This round of mending will probably be a bit on the boring side. I know some folks get amazingly creative with their mending and maybe I will too. Mostly, though, I just want to fix the holes in my clothes. While I don’t suspect I’ll do anything quite as fancy as some of these visible menders, it’s definitely something to aim for!
