Mending isn’t my favorite sewing-related thing to do. I love sewing for the creative aspect of it. Making something new. I don’t love doing repairs.

However, I’m still asked to do repairs.

Recently, I found something that makes mending look a lot more exciting. Marsha mentioned it and I had to go look at what it was.

Sashiko

I’ve been collecting ideas on Pinterest for fun mending projects – all visible and creative! If you want to see more of these ideas, take a look at my Pinterest page. There’s a link in the photo.

A Little Rain

  There was a little rain on my parade when I got all excited to do some mending for Em, my son’s girlfriend. She said she didn’t want it to show too much. She has to wear her jeans for work.

‘But it can show a little?’ Yes. It could show a little.

Great!I was using a darning method I found. I’m surprised how few of the stitches are showing up. I was spacing the lines of stitching about 2 mm apart, and catching the cotton fabric underneath five or six times per row. That’s not going to move, but I did think it would show more.

Still I enjoyed trying it, and making it not too visible. I would have loved to do something more fun, but I had a chance to try this method and practice a bit.

Multi-Functioning Knob

 While I had been searching Sashiko, I also found a few pins on darning. The joke in our home is if something needs darning, we say ‘Darn it.’ while tossing it in the trash. Hmm, maybe we won’t do that anymore.

A darning egg, or mushroom is commonly used under the material that is being darned.  Here’s a set I found on Etsy. There’s a link in the photo if you want to see more.However, looking at these, I thought I already have the perfect darning tool. for the job I was doing – my knob!I bought this knob at Bra-makers Supply when I first started sewing bras. I still use it, and now it has another great function!

Here it is behind the jeans, holding everything in place perfectly so I can use both my hands.

It worked great!

Just one week after I mended these, the other thigh decided it wanted an updated look too! Em brought them back to me for another fix.

Not only that, but one of my favorite pairs of pants decided to join the sashiko mending club. I had more mending to do. Mine is an embroidered mend. I love hearts, so decided on a heart, with some cotton Lycra behind the small hole. I’m glad my favorite casual pants will continue to be enjoyed sans the hole.

Happy creating!