Tag: textilemending

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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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Denim Shorts, Pocket Mends

ceceliarhoden

This week I took on a challenge that is really making me question my decision to work without thimbles – denim pocket mends. This involved removing the pockets, adding patches from behind, and then stitching the pockets back on.

First I unstitched the top half of the pockets, trimmed the denim into a more manageable shape, and then pinned black denim to the inside.

I really like the look and sturdiness of blanket stitch for this kind of patch, so I did that on all three holes before re-stitching the pockets.

I also reinforced a few worn spots before they could get worse, hopefully preventing more difficult future repairs!

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Green Sweater – Patching in Place

ceceliarhoden

My best friend came to visit me some time ago wearing this green sweater with the elbow totally blown out, like it was nothing, like that rip wasn’t getting bigger and bigger every time she washed it. LEMME AT IT! And here we are, I’m quite proud of the results, even though I wasn’t able to swiss darn like I’d initially hoped to.

The elbow hole just kept getting bigger on me as I tried to work, so I heavily reinforced the edges.
It’s one of those repairs that I don’t even know how to explain what I did, it just happened – perhaps someone will help me film it someday.

There was a second hole I repaired the same way near the bottom back of the sweater. I think the second repair looks much better.

If I could do anything different, I’d love to find a way to make this round style of patching in place lay more flat on the sweater, perhaps that will come with washes.

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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!