I don't think the term 'visible mending' existed when I was growing up, but it was certainly something my mum certainly practised. My childhood clothes sometimes sported cool patches that I was allowed to pick out at the sewing shop, and the acid burns on my university 'chemistry' jeans were covered over with hand-embroidered flowers. Darning, however, aimed to be largely 'invisible'. It was also something I found fiddly and hated doing.
I've recently come across the idea of darning for visible mending. I love the idea of mending things. It fits well with frugality and good stewardship: two things I value highly. And maybe attractive darning (combined with some new pointers on how to do it well) would be more fun?
We have a chair cushion that I'd like to try visible darning on, but I decided to practise on an holey towel first. In a bit over an hour this afternoon, here's what I came up with:
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| The first attempt |
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| The second - and a crude black one in the corner as I was getting tired |
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| The section of the towel with the two mends |
I'm pretty pleased with how they worked out! I'm using very fine wool thread that I picked up from the op shop in Whangaparāoa when we were there in September, and following ideas from this video. I learned a few things from these first attempts and may well move straight onto the chair squab next :-)
And, if I take to it, I'll probably buy a little darning loom (a tool I only very recently came across) which should make it easier to do neat darns with fine wool.
