Mending Matters

Hi Everyone 

I’m sharing yet another book today. This time, its a belated Christmas present ! The book is called Mending Matters by Katrina Rodabaugh. I’ve been looking forward to receiving this book for several months and yesterday, it finally arrived ! I believe, the reason for the delay is all about the book selling out of several print runs. 

                      

After getting over the fact that the book had actually arrived, I spent lots of time yesterday, reading the initial chapters and considering how to apply the very interesting projects to my wardrobe. I love everything about the idea of making my own wardrobe and mending, seems to be a natural development of this concept. I’m trying to consider each item, I decide to include in my wardrobe. The point of having a range of clothing which works with each other and that will last, is part of my plan. Making clothes does take quite a bit of time, so making the right choice and looking after clothes is important. 

The Mending Matters book includes lots of ideas around mending but also introduces techniques which are more like embroidery and includes the handmade wardrobe approach using natural fabrics. One other characteristic of the book is lots of  blue things ! This is, of course, very appealing to me.

The cover of the book, uses jeans which have been beautifully repaired using visible mending techniques. I love this idea. I’m very keen to adapt a pair of my own jeans in this way. I do have several pairs of jeans which would lend themselves to such a makeover. I guess, in my case, the makeover would be a bit indulgent- I don’t have a pair of jeans which would require such a huge repair !  However, I’m rather taken with visible mending and have also  introduced the Shashiko and Boro stitching technique before on the blog (check out my reference here). The jeans project would be perfect for the job.

I’ve also got an idea for a project bag, with lots of the mending techniques included. I have several pieces of denim and will practice, joining the pieces using Shashiko and Boro sewing techniques. 

I feel a huge connection with this book. Katrina talks about her initial pledge, not to buy clothes for a year (in her case, several years ago). This kickstarted her approach to clothing. I’ve done this too. I have a wardrobe full of stuff (some handmade but mostly shop bought) and have decided to make any new clothes from scratch. I’m now also planning on remaking and restyling items in my wardrobe, most of which have been bought.  Somehow, this reworking idea is incredibly attractive to me. 

Generally, I’m thrilled with my Mending Matters book. I’m keeping it close and dipping into the chapters when I have a quiet moment.

Thanks for calling in today.