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You’ve likely heard of upcycling and even upcycled some garments at this point – but are you familiar with the next trend in sustainable fashion: Visible mending? This is the next logical trend in the move toward keeping fashion from landfills and purchasing garments second-hand.
What Is Visible Mending?
In the past, the purpose of mending a garment was to hide that it had holes or stains, but in the sixties and seventies, in Western fashion, a movement started to mend garments more visibly. Eastern fashion had already embraced Sashiko, the Japanese art of visibly mending garments. Visible mending refers to any alteration you make to your garments to cover up holes or stains – from patches to embroidery – and the current trends embrace doing so artfully but simply.
What Tools Do You Need for Visible Mending?
You can certainly use iron-on patches for visible mending if you like, but your patches are likely to be much sturdier if you use a needle and good thread. Sashiko thread is a thicker thread that holds up well. You’ll also need scrap fabrics to create patches and embroidery threads for your designs. A thimble is also very helpful for pushing the needle through the fabric, especially when working with heavier materials such as denim. If you want to get fancy, seed beads and other embellishments can also be used. You’re only limited by your imagination here.
How Do You Do Visible Mending
First, you’ll want to remove any frayed fabric, as it will only fray further and can compromise your work. If you’re creating a patch, you’ll want to work with fabrics of equal weight and the same type of material as your current fabric. If you’re embroidering, you’ll want a sharp needle for woven fabrics that pierces the fabric well and a ballpoint needle for knit fabrics so that it passes through the fibers without damaging them.
The beauty of visible mending is in its imperfection. You do not have to mend things perfectly for them to look amazing. A running stitch is the most common stitch used in visible mending. You’ll want to keep your stitches close together to hold well. If you have them spaced further apart, it’s easier to remove them.
Why Visible Mending Is Becoming Trendy
Our landfills are full of discarded clothing – especially now that fast fashion is the norm. It’s often cheaper to toss something than it is to replace it. However, trying your hand at visible mending is well worth it – especially if the garment is a favorite item. Not only does it save money and keep items that still have a lot of life in them out of the landfill, but it also allows you to have even more unique items in your wardrobe. One of my favorite items to see visible mending on is the denim jacket – but there are some great iterations of sweaters that folks have embroidered on to cover up moth holes and some adorable t-shirt embroidery covering stains. Take a look in your closet at the items you’ve been thinking about trashing. Can you use visible mending to bring them back into rotation?