Almost on the mend...

Another wretched day mostly in bed with a bad cold. I did manage to stir myself to get started on the ever growing pile of mending, so not a total loss. I looked up and again liked the juxtaposition of textures and colours in my sewing table here.
It contrasts beautifully with the white walls and floors of our house.

I'm actually terrible at sewing but given the terrible social and environmental impacts of fashion we have decided to buy no new clothes this year and to reuse, recycle and buy 2nd hand where necessary instead. It's been a good learning experience!

I bought a new book recently (mending matters by Katrina Rodabaugh, highly recommend it for simple instructions especially for denim, see below...), to inspire me to get going with the mending pile and I'm pretty pleased with how the 8 garments I managed to finish off today turned out. The book is about visible mending, which I'd never heard of before but seems to be somewhat based on the Japanese idea of Wabi-Sabi, that annobjects value increases as it is used and gets older and repairs add character. Let's see if the family goes along with this!
The extra is a little mouse I cut off one old garment and sewed on another to hide a rip on a dress that I can send to my niece to enjoy..

I involved the kids too and they've turned out to be quite good at simple tasks. They have really enjoyed themselves sitting around listening to audio books and fixing stuff. It's maybe more satisfying being able to fix things with your hands than just throwing away and buying new. At least I hope they have learnt that. It's a good way to get into a state of flow.

I have however also found *11 pairs of jeans* that all need mending, mostly on the seat