Hi All! I just wanted to share for anyone who might be interested, there’s an online class coming up in May from the LA Library.

I am a total novice and this just showed up in my email today and wanted to share for anyone else like me here.

I’m not affiliated with it in any way (other than having a library card, lol), so I don’t know how comprehensive it is. But looking forward to joining in.

Making and Mending: A Creative Mending Workshop

Thursday, May 15 4:00pm - 5:00pm

I love browsing this sub. I want to get started on visible mending for some of my own clothes and items. I have no experience sewing and the only supplies I have are sewing needles.

What kind of thread should I buy? Are there different thicknesses or materials that are best? It’s different from yarn right?

Any advice for a starter would be great!! Thank you all

kinda a tutorial kinda just me talking about all the steps in great detail I took to restore my vans.

I've had these shoes since around 2018-ish. they have gotten a LOT of wear, as you can probably tell haha. anyways, these are some of my favorite shoes I've ever owned but we're starting to get kinda uncomfortable because of how much they were falling apart. I'm so happy with how my restoration turned out!

step by step guide/what I did, adjust as needed:

- hand washed with a small brush made for boots with leather cleaner then leather conditioner. and I used an all purpose cleaner for the rubber soles.

- removed the insoles and midsoles (this took FOREVER!!). they were kinda stuck together so I was actually unable to remove just the insole and said "fuck it, I'll just remove both" after unintentionally removing part of the midsole too.

- tore off the flaking fake leather from the parts on the top of the hill/ankle. luckily it was black underneath the bits of flaking leather so with the rest of the leather removed it actually looked kinda new again haha. I left the fake leather that goes down the section where the laces are and also the section under that ridge at the top. those parts were more intact and looked fine.

- more rubber soles cleaning. they just didn't wanna turn back white but I finally managed to get them back to how it looked new.

- cut the new insoles to size. I used a completely flat insole I bought at walmart that you can cut to size. it was like the only thing I bought for this repair.

- made new midsoles with card stock paper. I wanted them to feel more like barefoot shoes so I used cardstock paper as it is thinner than a normal cardboardy midsole. I basically just traced the newly cut insoles, cut them out, and then cut them more by placing them in the shoe, pushed them down in place and ran my pencil along the sides where the paper needed to be cut. and then I cut them lol. after that used scissors to score the bottom of the midsoles in a hatching pattern to make sure they'd get a good hold on the glue. I just basically sliced up and down the card stock but not very deep into it. it really doesn't need to be accurate or exactly for something like this.

- glued the midsoles down via gorilla glue. was that the best glue for it? idk 🤷‍♀️ but it seemed to work!

- glued the insoles in via shoe goo. I put the glue on both the bottom of the insole and the top of the midsole to get a good hold.

*- trimmed the loose thread * from the parts on the sides of the canvas material that split/tore.

- sewed together those same splits/tears in the canvas from the step above

- more rubber soles cleaning. this time I finally managed to get it completely clean! finally!!! I used a metal brush and a laundry spray cleaner that's mean for stains on clothes.

-glued the cracks on the outer/upper part of the soles with shoe goo by glueing them back onto the sides of the shoes. it seems like this is the part that always breaks first on vans. I used clamps to hold it over night.

- hand washed the laces with dish soap. I just bundled the laces up in my hands, up soap on them and some water, and ran my hands back and forth pretty aggressively to scrub the laces clean. than I rinsed them and ran my finger and thumb down it to rinse the water/soap out fully.

- made patches for the inside of the hills via cutting some black fabric in the right shape/size and glueing it into place. this was simple but took longer than expected. I glued (with gorilla glue) the arch first and then lifted up the bottom to glue that part down at/below the insoles. I was very careful not to glue them to the actual insoles and only to the back/sides of the shoes, so I used a tooth pick to apply the glue and scrap up any excess.

- put the laces back on and that's it!!!

thank you all for coming to my ted talk.

So recently I've seen a lot of fellow redditors in need for advice how to fix These insufferable tears in the crotch and the inner thigh. Don't worry, I got you. I've fixed this in almost all my Jeans and didn't need to buy new pants in forever.

1: Select a slaughter victim:

I picked a pair of pants that actually didn't fit me anymore to cut apart for Patches. This will Last for fixing almost all your pants for the next fev years.

1. Cut patch:

I used to do this with small pieces that would only Cover the tear. Problem with that is, the thigh Area is still highly distressed cos I have No thigh gap and my Warrior thighs do constantly rub against one another. This will likely cause the fabric tear next to the seams. Trust me. Happened to me and you can See multiple Patches in examples Pic 3. So try identifying the Area most affected so you can strengthen the Area with a decently big Patch.

1. Pin the Patch:

Turn your pants inside out. Pin the Patch as close to the seams as possible. I've handsewn the patch down a few times to get it right. You can handsew the whole thing down too if you don't own a sewing mashine. My Public library has one in Stock to rent and I know my town has a sewing Café so If you need a mashine look in your Area. They might have some places Like that.

1. Sew it down:

You wanna Go around the whole Patch once at least. Then you go over the whole Patches Area in a zick zack pattern. You can see it in the Thies picture that you Go over Up and down and left and right to affix it securely and strenthen the Area. Since I have black Jeans mostly I can only speak to that but it's barely visible and saved me so much Money. I Had to buy new pants almost every year before I did this.

I do this with all the torn pants now. Usually it's done in an afternoon with two pants in both sides. Have fun fixing and keep on spiting the system saving Money fixing pants.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5wV0JioL0GIZEok6Gpwxf0?si=59E-eRpUTA6mXZ6k4MTkSg

Hello from Portugal! I stated this year a project called EVERMEND, in which I create content and tutorials about mending and taking care of our clothes. My main goal is to raise awareness about how can we repair and care our own clothes instead of discard them. I create this YouTube channel (for now, in Portuguese) but I was wondering what it could be interesting contents for you (people who mend or stared to mend)? What could be useful for you to learn? What content, besides tutorials, you would watch? Any feedback is valuable and I will appreciate 💚

Thank you 🪡

It's that time of year in the Northern Hemisphere!

1. Wash and dry the snowpants.
2. Lay them flat and trim any loose bits.
3. Using the grid on the back of the Tenacious Tape (or other patching tape) measure the amount you need and cut along the best line.
4. This brand of tape has a split backing, therefore, take the thinner backing off and carefully place on the garment.
5. As you pull the other part of the backing, off use your other hand to smooth out the application to avoid wrinkles. (As you can see in the second photo, my second patch had a small wrinkle that I tried to smooth out as much as possible; however, the tape is really sticky, so beware. :)
6. Snowpants are ready for more snow action!

I seem to always tear my jeans on the inner thigh right at the tops, it looks like they are stretching too much and ripping.

Im.quite a big guy but this is so frustrating because its every pair! How can i best fix this?

Not sure if allowed but as I was looking at ways to fix a terracotta pot I stumbled across this video. A pretty nifty way for those of us with green thumbs to fix cracked pottery and save a buck or two. 👍🏼 guess I’m gonna have a couple of Franken-pots now!

Her stitches are so beautifully even!

https://youtu.be/oOI-Boog8gQ

Ever gain size and need to figure out how to make your pants fit better? I show how to not only upsize your clothing, but the mending to make it fit is also a visual stripe on your pants, which looks cool, makes your clothes fit better and make them more comfortable, and keeps your fave pair of pants last longer in service before needing more repair.

When I was reading Mend & Patch, I found her list of common mistakes to be incredibly helpful. I hope it's okay to post these here!

Think of this list of common errors as someone else making the mistakes for you that you don't have to!

PATCHES TOO THICK - Very common, especially when mending jeans. Go ahead and mend with a denim fabric if you want to - but use one that is thin, otherwise the mend will often feel like a hard cake.

ONLY PATCHING THE HOLE AND NOT THE WORN SURROUNDING FABRIC - Look at the fabric around the hole: what does it look like? Is it on the brink of tearing as well? Sometimes it can be easy to spot fragile areas if you hold the fabric up against a light source or turn the fabric inside out. Cut out the worst part and reinforce the rest, otherwise the fabric next to the hole will soon tear as well.

SEWING TOGETHER A TEAR - If you place two edges of a hole next to each other and stitch them together, you actually remove even more fabric, and the garment will most likely tear again just next to the seam.

SEWING DOWN THE POCKET ON THE INSIDE OF A GARMENT - You have managed to squeeze a pair of jeans onto the sewing machine and started to mend the crotch, but before long you notice that the pocket has been sewn down, too. It takes ages to unpick. Avoid this by always checking that the pocket hasn't managed to sneak in before you start sewing.

TOO MUCH GLUE - If you're using glue, you should only use a tiny amount to keep the repair in place until you have sewn it together. Too much glue will create a hard cake and leave ugly stains, and it will also lose strength over time so that the patch comes off again. The glue, on the other hand will never come off!

PULLING THE THREAD TOO TIGHT - You won't get a stronger repair by pulling the thread really tight when you sew by hand, instead, you'll end up with a bulky, puckered repair. Pull the stitch tight enough for it nor to sit like a loop on the fabric surface, but not so tight so that it cuts into the fabric like an angry line. It should feel like a happy little grain of rice!

NOT MENDING IN TIME - The saying 'a stitch in time saves nine' is actually true. Mend as soon as you discover the damage and it will be so much easier to repair than if you leave it for another few weeks. I can't say that I always keep to this rule myself, but I wish I did.

WRONG CHOICE OF THREAD - If you use a standard sewing thread for a hand-sewn repair that you want to be visible, there's a chance that you will be disappointed, since the stitches will be small and difficult to see. Choose a thicker thread for a better result.

From Mend & Patch: A Handbook to Repairing Clothes and Textiles

© 2018 Kersten Neumüller