Ok, I’m terrible at keeping secrets, so I’ll tell you…I love mending.
It wasn’t always this way. Once upon a time, my idea of darning was saying, “Darn” loudly as I regretfully tossed my (hand knit! what the hell was I thinking?!) socks in the trash. But I’ve since fallen in love with the process of making textiles whole again when they get sad. And there’s some delightful threads (ha, I’m hilarious) here on mending clothes. I didn’t, however, see any on mending other items. So here’s a thread. Stitch up some lovely mends, friends, and show them off.
Here’s one I was working on today. It’s a quilt—a very cheap one that I bought probably 20 years ago. I’ve become determined to keep it warming the bodies of people i love and providing the more-than-occasional place for the cat to nap, all while getting better and more beautiful with many mends.
Many. Today I mended three places and counted at least 30 more still to go.
For those who need a little nudge, and maybe some instructions, there’s several nifty little Badge Bits dedicated to mending non-clothing items!
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A patch that’s roughly 3 inches long with Sashiko-style stitching and a tiny embroidered sunflower that’s reinforcing a thin spot
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A houndstooth patch I wove with Sashiko thread and a Speedweve loom. It’s a bit shy of an inch wide!
Morfydd St. Clair wrote:Ooh, how do you do a houndstooth with the Speedweve? Or is it embroidered on top of a flat weave?
I have a Speedweve but I haven't played with it yet.
It was the happiest accident! Start your warp with color A, threading a hook and then skipping a hook. Go back with color B, filling in the ones you skipped. (Faster to warp it this way when you’re using multiple colors and uses less thread.) Then weave two rows of each color as weft; I used two needles to minimize the number of times I had to thread a needle. Magic!
Best tip I have for these delightful little looms is to send your needle though the warp shed backward, eye first. This keeps the point from catching on the warp threads.
I found this video really helpful in getting started:
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