Make Do and Mend - A Fashion Resolution

In the spirit of consuming less, (in order to avoid overflowing wardrobes and throwing things out that are still wearable, when they might then end up in landfill), I have decided to start extending the life of clothes I already have. My aim over the next year is to not buy any new clothing, and to mend pieces I have that might need it. 

Visible Mending Ideas

When Stitch (my dog) was a puppy, she ripped through quite a few of my jumpers, so I have lots of suitable holes to hone my mending skills with! The cuffs of my jumpers seem to suffer the most in daily life- they rub against things, and get caught on my linker (all spikes, perfect for shredding clothing on), so the first thing to try is fixing the holes and re-knitting or mending cuffs. 

Re-knitting cuffs by hand, with bright stripes.

While I can mend things pretty much invisibly, I generally don't have exactly the right colour of yarn (even though my stash is enormous!). So rather than try to create an almost invisible mend which in my eyes would stand out and really frustrate me, I have decided to try visible mending. Much more fun!

Visible mending will give me the opportunity to create mini artworks of my jumpers... or more realistically, allow me to be creative and have my knitwear collection evolve. I have to admit, that I rather like the idea of my knitwear and I changing over time together. Visible mending will also make my garments totally unique, something I always enjoy, which will give me yet another reason to keep them even longer. Loved clothes last. 

Finished cuffs- I decided to make them both different, just for fun. I have also changed the buttons, although ow I'm not sure I like these ones any more and I might have a look through my button stash....

Over the next little while I'll show you more images of mending in progress, and some how to steps.