Visible Mending

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Since taking up hand stitching again in 2016, I discovered I needed something simpler to work on in the evenings and on weekends than my very intricate embroidery pieces. I discovered Visible Mending through some embroiderers on Instagram and it’s become an excellent hobby.

The butt of a pair of black jeans with a Japanese wave pattern on them done in grey sashiko stitching.

I started with some simple sashiko mends on my son’s jeans which got more intricate the more I learned about sashiko techniques. Susan Briscoe’s excellent book—The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook—has been a great resource for this.

The knee of a pair of grey jeans with a Japanese persimmon pattern on them done in blue sashiko stitching.
A red rice flower stitch on a patch on the knee of some children's sized skinny jeans.
The right pocket of a pair of washed out grey jeans. There is a circular tear and red Sashiko stitching in a diamond shape as a repair.

I patched things in boro boro style: 

A small pillow with many patches of an Asian dragon pattern in greys, blacks, and reds, sewn on with red thread. Some of the original red and tan Japanese wave pattern cloth of the pillow can be seen on the bottom edge.
Lia’s hand in a right hand burgundy glove. There are 3 black needle felted dots on the back of the glove.

I also took up needle felting as a way to make 3-dimensional fibre art pieces. Needle felting works well for patching smaller holes in wool!

Lia’s hand holding the thumb of one of a pair of grey knitted mittens. A needle felted soot sprite with wide open eyes is on the pad of the thumb.
A close up of Lia’s hand holding the thumb of a grey knitted mitten. A needle felted soot sprite with wide open eyes is on the pad of the thumb.

I did some keyhole mending—accentuating the holes as design elements rather than covering them over.

A close up of a red wool scarf with holes surrounded by red buttonhole stitch. A glass weight holds the scarf down on the edge of a deck.
The end of a black scarf/obi showing the original white pattern design plus some buttonholed holes.
A black scarf/obi with a white design on the ends and many outlined holes.
Lia wearing a burgundy wool scarf in which the moth holes are all outlined in buttonhole stitch

The largest project I worked on was this merino wool dress from Smoking Lily. It took a few years to finish this one because there were a lot of moth holes which I covered with embroidered leaves and connected with vines. 

A brown-rose lightweight merino wool t-shirt dress hangs on a hanger against a fence. There are large purple peonies printed on the dress and numerous dusky rose leaves embroidered all over connected by stem stitch.
A close up of the previous dress showing detail of the leaves and vines embroidered on it.

And another visible mending embroidery patch of a heart on this cardigan.

A black patch on the sleeve of a red cashmere sweater. An anatomical heart is embroidered in back stitch on the patch in red thread.
Lia in a selfie in her bathroom mirror. She is wearing a burgundy cardigan with a black patch near the cuff of the left sleeve. She has long greying hair. The bathroom is white with a cabinet and dark housecoats hung on the wall behind her.

I’ve also started upcycling a few items.

A 1940s navy blue wool coat hung against a white wall. There is a velvet leaf in the right armpit and a silver patch can be seen in the lining.

I patched this vintage 1940s coat of my grandmother’s with embroidered velvet leaves and did some sashiko patching of the lining.

This shawl was made from an old t-shirt of my son’s.

A detail of the red sashiko stitching on the front of the shawl.
A detail of the red sashiko stitching on the back of the shawl.
The same shawl from the back. There is some red sashiko stitching in a half circle shaped section on the upper right of the shawl.
A shawl made with black t-shirt material with dragons and flowers printed and machine embroidered on it in greys, whites, and reds. The lining of the shawl is red and white seigaiha cloth. There is some red Sashiko stitching on the front point of the shawl.

Even though I was a bit of a minimalist before, becoming ill with ME/CFS has made me further simplify my life and my possessions. Shopping was something I found frustrating before I got sick because so many women’s clothes are made with cheap materials and the sizing is usually completely random. After I got sick, shopping became too exhausting to do in person. The concept of mottainai—of using what one already has—became even more appealing. I have so many nice clothes, many of which are excellent quality, some I bought in Japan and others from small Canadian designers. Almost everything I own is black so it’s usually a matter of mixing cuts and types of fabric. Mending makes a lot of sense with such a wardrobe, and some of the mending I’ve done has personalized my clothes even further

A pair of black wide-legged capri pants lying on a wooden floor. In the crotch and along the inner left leg is brown stitching in a Japanese sashiko rising steam stitch.
A close up of the crotch of the previous pair of pants showing the sashiko stitching.

I occasionally use my sewing machine, but I’ve been doing more and more hand sewing since it’s restor­ative as opposed to the active task of sitting upright in a chair. Mending calms me and allows me to rest, but without the intense focus that my intricate embroideries require. If you’d like to keep appraised of my mending practice, I post most things on Twitter and Instagram. I usually use #VisibleMending and occasionally #sashiko when appropriate.