Mending..

Ever since going to The Big Mend last time (see here) I have dreamed of patching my beloved jeans!

I saw the Liberty Lawn patching ideas from Scrapiana and it was the perfect match of wanting to mend and revitalise my jeans; try a stitch technique, and use some precious Liberty Lawn.

There was a mend already along the tears – see the blue perle thread ladders! The patch now peeps through – the inside against my skin consists of Lawn and soft perle thread. Liberty Lawn was a favourite of my mother’s (see here and other posts on ‘a delicate rhythm’)

I like the stitch -a sachiko stitch – a kind of kantha almost with it’s added rippling texture. I started doing a running stitch and mixed it with a stepped stitch so the strands at the back are not so long – a process of learning as I went along as usual!

I realise whilst working on it that there are many links to my practice, many deeper layers – loose threads (can’t bear to tidy those around the tear), rhythmic stitch, texture, the hidden (in this case back of the work), extending connections … I also noticed the texture of Lawn and Denim, the changes to the Denim from wear (bleached, softly threadbare balanced with deeper blue and strong weave).

Mending these brought my attention back to pausing and really looking at this clothing – feeling it differently, valuing it deeply….

I found a wonderful post today which links to this – have a look at ‘the unpredictable geography of mending, Sherri Lynn Wood

6 thoughts on “Mending..”

A really beautiful repair, Susi. I’d even called it ‘lyrical’. It’s wonderful to see where people are going with this reverse-applique style of mending which embraces the worn nature of the clothing rather than hiding it.

Your readers might like to know that Sherri Lynn Wood’s inspiring jeans repair also features in Mend it Better by Kristin Roach, published earlier this year by Storey Publishing. A much humbler example of my own repair work is in the same book. Pardon the plug. 🙂