Making the clothes you love last
Now that summer is, sigh, slowly coming to an end, I’m sure many parents have begun the annual task of looking through the fall kids clothes to see what needs to be replaced or added. Before you KonMari the heck out of their wardrobe and pass anything on, I would like to share with you 10 ways you can re-purpose and fix kids clothes so they have a longer life in your home.
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Now that summer is in full bloom, I’ve slowly been putting away the winter clothes until the next season (I know, midsummer is well past spring cleaning!). I find it’s a good time to take stock of what is still wearable, what needs to be repaired or patched and see which well loved pants can be turned into shorts if I they are unlikely to survive another winter. As I’m getting ready to cut these H&M twill pants for my son, I thought I’d take the opportunity to write a tutorial on how I turn jeans (or pants) into shorts.
Over the years of mending and embellishing my family’s clothes, I’ve played with various different styles of patches. As much as I like the look of sashiko inspired jeans, I wanted a patch that was be quick to make, covered the entire surface of the knee and would be simple enough in shape that I could use it as a base for other forms of embellishment. This was the thinking that inspired the Curved Patch Pattern.
So a few weeks ago I pulled out my favorite pair of dark denim jeans and noticed that two holes had mysteriously appeared in the crotch area… In all fairness, I have been wearing these jeans for at least 4 years a few times a week so I guess it’s inevitable that they would get worn out. Obviously being a little passionate with helping you make your loved clothes last, I saw this as an opportunity to write another tutorial on how to a fix hole or tear in jeans with the invisible mending technique.
Over the course of the summer I will be writing posts to present you with a more in depth look at all the patterns that I have developed for this first season of Modern Mending. Today, I would like to introduce you to the Love Appliqué Pattern.
In 2009 I was a young mother of a toddler and nursing a baby. Swimming in the very deep ocean of full time parenting, I found myself far away from the world of fashion. My mind still craved to be creative and designed focused so I filled my bedside table with books about the subject. Things shifted dramatically in my mind when I came across this game changer: Cradle to Cradle: Re-making the way we make things, co-authored by Michael Braungart and William McDonough. If you are a designer or manufacturer and haven’t read it, this should be at the top your reading list. When it comes to the future of fashion, I will paraphrase Stella McCartney by saying changing the way we grow and make our clothes is far more important than the next season’s color scheme or silhouette.
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Seven years ago I purchased for the very first time, a pair of jeans that cost over $200. Ouch. Where I live, we have this lovely boutique that carries independent brands which are for the most part either locally and/or ethically made. So after many months of dreaming, I gifted myself a pair of Hudson Jeans for my Birthday. Bless the honest owner of this shop, she warned me that light colored denim did tend to wear more quickly than dark. The bleaching used to wash out the color, does have the unfortunate side effect of weakening the fiber. But regardless, I was in love with the jeans and decided that when the time came that they wore out, I would fix them so my investment lasted longer. Here we are, seven years later and my crotch and the back of the jeans are wearing way too thinly for me to safely go out with them in public.
Continue reading “How To Fix Jeans With Invisible Mending Technique”
I always enjoyed doing hand illustrations. I think it began at a very young age when I received Fashion Plates one Christmas. The illustrations were so beautiful and the quick tracing with a chalk made me believe I was a flawless illustrator myself. Being the creative type, I quickly got bored with the many clothing options available in the box and began designing my own outfits using the bathing suit body as my background. More than thirty years later, I can still remember thinking I could do this forever.
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All through my fashion career I felt like I’ve been swimming against the tide. At university, I got interested in designing for plus sizes. When I mentioned it, I would often be encountered by snobbish looks of disdain from other people in the industry. Perhaps they were questioning my talent or true allegiance to the holy altar of fashion. King Karl, having been at it’s helm for the better part of the past 3 decades, has never been shy of making his views public on the subject of women’s sizes. To his fans, I warn you, the following text may contain traces of political correctness. I tried to ignore the sighs and stay focused on this newfound interest, which finally allowed me to find purpose in a craft I loved but seemed so superficial. It also forced me to look at my own prejudices towards what a stylish person should vs can look like.
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Caring for a sick loved one isn’t easy. It can be tiring, stressful, and often, we look for coping strategies. I wouldn’t be surprised if alcohol and drugs are number two on the list of popular coping strategies after social media in many of our cases. Doctors will tell you that exercise has the same amount of benefits as medication when dealing with anxiety. Here is the story of how I discover that mending clothes can be therapeutic.