Tag: patching

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Test Print Patches

ceceliarhoden

I collect skills like trading cards – I have to try everything once, sometimes it sticks, sometimes it doesn’t.

I’ve been dabbling in block printing on fabric on and off for several years now, and last year I took on a massive, ambitious block that I’m still hopeful about – and I can’t wait to show the world. The issue? It warped, and while trying to get it right, I waste a lot of fabric on test prints. But parts of that fabric look really clear, vivid, and interesting, so I decided to save them for patches.

I for one, actually quite like the look of ripped jeans, that is, until I catch the hole on the license plate of my car and rip them all the way up the leg at the farmers market – oops. These suckers had to be reinforced, and I’m quite proud of how they came out in the end.

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Mend March Day 15, Saggy

ceceliarhoden
May be an image of text that says '#MendMarch @VisibleMend I. Hello! 2. Kity 3. Cross 4. Fix 5. Flux 6. Extra 7. Hygge 8. Seated 9.Sated 10. Defeated 11. Hated. 12. Make Friends Make aMENDs 14. Bends 15. Saggy 16. Brag 17. My year indoors 18. Adjustmend 19. Achievemend 20. Commitmend 21. Dimensional 22. Sensational 23 Bearable 24. Shareable 25. Viral 26. Spiral 27. Brutal 28. Darn/Farm 29.In/Out 30. Holiday Home'

We’re at the #mendmarch halfway-ish point, oh boy. Today is day 15, Saggy – something I can prevent with this mend, haha. One thing I love about mending is being in a thrift store and not being turned away by something I like or need requiring mending. Today I spotted a guilty pleasure of mine, the stretchy kind of jeans that definitely do not last. I never buy them new, I just can’t bring myself to do it, but for $2.50 I picked up a pair with a broken belt loop and went to work.

This is an easy mend, and one I’d put on my “must-learn” list for anyone who wears jeans (hell, I almost never wear jeans but here I am using the skill!) I trimmed away all the fraying edges and put a piece of scrap denim on the inside of the pants, backstitching all the way around with…whatever thread happened to be sitting in my needle at the time – today it was gold.

Then, wishing desperately that I owned a thimble, I stitched the belt loop back onto the reinforced hole. All in all it was a quick mend that will probably outlast the cheap original stitching on all the other belt loops.

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#MendMarch Day 14, Bends

ceceliarhoden
May be an image of text that says '#MdMarch @Visible I. Hello! 2. Kity 3. Cross 4. Fix 5. Flux 6. Extra 7. Hygge 8. Seated 9.Sated 10. Defeated 11. Hated. 12. Make Friends Make aMENDS 14. Bends 15. Saggy 16. Brag 17. My year indoors 18. Adjustmend 19. Achievemend 20. Commitmend 21. Dimensional 22-Senstional 23. Bearable 24. Shareable 25. Viral 26. Spiral 27. Brutal 28. Darn/Farm 29.In/Out 30 Holiday Home'

Still hacking away at #mendmarch and today is Bends, well, there’s nothing more vital to my bending than my leggings, yep, leggings. They’re one of the few articles of clothing I still buy new (however, if I find a pair on the cheap in a thrift store I always bring them home), I wear them constantly as my back pain doesn’t always allow for the pressure from waistbands on jeans. But has anyone else noticed that each size of leggings goes from “fitting a bit snug and popping but then the thighs” to “baggy as all get out if you go a size up“? My go-to mend for leggings when they first start to wear through is to just fold the seam over and stitch it down to hide the hole, but that’s a very temporary fix. So with these, I took a new, fun approach.

If you’re following me on Facebook or Instagram, you saw on day 10, Defeated – I opted not to mend the patterned leggings that left me with a whole buttcheek hanging out on my shopping day. Those leggings became the perfect patch material for the black ones I wear every day. I affixed the patch with a zig-zag stitch, as it’s got plenty of natural stretch. I learned through trial and error that if I stitched both on and off the patch, like I do with other types of patches, it just ripped the already worn thin leggings more, which is why you can see so much hanging edge. But to my surprise, it did hold up in the wash!

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Gravy-Cat’s Favorite Pillow

ceceliarhoden

When I decide whether I want to mend something, or repurpose it elsewhere, I first ask “how much do I love this item?”
Well, I don’t love this pillow case at all, in fact, years ago I even gave up patching the comforter it came with – but my kitty, Gravy, adores this pillowcase, so I just have to save it.

This is an ongoing mend, I have to add more patches almost every time I wash it, but it’s given me lots of practice with patching and blanket stitch (can you tell blanket stitch is my favorite way to affix patches?). I decided to use an embroidery hoop when patching this as it helped me see the weak spots in this old fabric, I could stretch it out and hold it up to the light.