One day I hope to dedicate myself to sewing and mending full time but, for now I spend many a work days landscaping and taking care of other people's yards. I do enjoy this job though it certainly takes a toll on my clothing. Inspired by the task, I wanted to show you all how I care for my work wardrobe.
Mending clothing is to me, just as important to ecological fashion as buying from sustainable brands. Both this red flannel shirt and the black jeans are second hand, they have been worn by either my partner first, or some unknown stranger before coming into my possession and I intend to take care of them for years to come. Who knows, maybe they will even become part of a patchwork quilt someday!
This week, they needed to be mended and so I did a simple patching with some red fabric left over from my table cloth with magenta thread. Using similar colors to the garment itself makes this an almost invisible mend. First, I will show you the inside of the shirt where the patch is visible.
And now, the outside of the shirt with the lovely faerie scissors I used, the magenta embroidery thread and needle plus the patch to the right. The colors match so well that I doubt you would even know it was there if I hadn't pointed it out.
For the jeans, I decided to go with a visible mend, using aqua colored thread and a dark blue patch:
My last patch is the one I am most proud of and solves multiple problems with these very worn jeans. To begin with these pants had a couple of holes that needed to be repaired. Once again I used a scrap of the dark blue fabric from the previous mend and contrasting color threads for a visible mending look. To secure the patch I stitched in dark green then used white cotton, embroidery thread in a circular shape for extra strength.
As comfy as they pants are to work in they didn't look good at all due as the knees in these jeans had become totally worn out and baggy. To fix this I took in the the jeans horizontally at the knees then patched over the mend to add more structure and prevent them from getting baggy anytime soon.
Previously I was a little embarrassed to be seen in such baggy and worn out jeans. After patching them however, I was excited to get into my work clothes and show them off! With the patches and colors added, these jeans have now bring a bit of my creativity to my at times monotonous job. To celebrate I have worn these pants many times over the past week and took this picture to share with you all:
Repairing my wardrobe is a project I will never be truly done with. Maybe one day I will tire of visible mending and re-patch my black jeans with black fabric and thread. I will certainly have to patch my work jeans and shirts again and again until they are entirely worn out. Fortunately I love to do it and love to share my work here!
During the rest of the weekend I will be mending and doing house chore while dreaming up my next post... I want to write about the essential tools of patching and repairing clothing by hand. Here is a sneak peak at the items inside my sewing kit:
Until next time! Chloe