Why I choose to mend

Mending clothing has always fallen into the “I don’t have time” category in my household. Clothing is relatively inexpensive and abundantly available. There are better ways to spend our days than patching holes, right?

The other day, Giggle noticed a small hole in the knee of a pair of leggings. “Uh-oh Mom, you’ll have to buy a new pair.” she immediately said, thrusting the damaged goods onto my lap.  It was then that I started to consider whether mending clothing has an intrinsic value entirely separate from time and labor.

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I attempted to explain to my darling four-year-old why we don’t just march out and buy new things simply because our old things aren’t what they used to be. After all, our 102-year old farmhouse is in a constant state of repair! Our to-do list far exceeds our desire for tasks! My husband and I frequently wonder at our sanity.

She stared at me, confused, while I babbled on, unable to convince even myself. Apparently, the work we are doing reads as “new” to her, not as the “salvage effort” it truly is. Also, Mama’s eyes must have seemed a bit too bright, overenthusiastic,  perhaps even on the brink of lunacy. (Seriously, you should see this house.) Unsure how better to make the point, I decided to mend the leggings.

I got out my embroidery scissors, embroidery needles and some skeins of DMC embroidery floss. I don’t have a darning egg (which, similar in concept to an embroidery hoop, holds the fabric taut to make it easier to place stitches). However, I do have a houseful of toys, and was able to quickly locate a small maraca as a useful substitute.  Excited to finally use the embroidery stitch directory I had picked up at a church bazaar, I chose the “darning stitch”. I took some pictures for you. It was SO exciting to be mending!

It’s a lot harder to hold the “darning egg” and fabric than I anticipated. Also, my high school experience doing cross-stitch kits didn’t translate very well to the task at hand. My darning stitch started out looking reasonably nice.

As I started working near the hole, though, my lack of knowledge was clear- so I started stitching faster. That had to be the right answer!

The finished product was so ridiculous that I came full circle in my thoughts. This was extremely humbling! I now fully agreed with Giggle. Yes, a new pair of leggings was totally necessary.

I took a bit of a break and determined to make the best of the situation. This was my first attempt at using embroidery for mending. And I did still have a point to make, one that would be more accessible with some sort of legging repair.

So I wrapped my stitches in embroidery thread until they were less ugly. (That is, I stitched across the stiches in one direction until the original stitches were more or less covered).

Magically (ha!), a snake-like figure appeared. From there, I added eyes and a forked tongue.

Giggle was completely thrilled with the snake, insisting on wearing the leggings immediately. She started looking through the laundry to see if any more clothes could use repair. Fortunately, she found none, but vowed to keep me updated. The previously worthless leggings were restored and infinitely more special. They were redeemed, if you will. And that got me thinking.

I’m sure there will be another opportunity to improve my embroidery and mending skills. I’m almost excited for the chance. Who would have guessed that the simple act of mending would so clearly demonstrate that even broken things can have value? What if, by closing tears and patching holes, we develop patience in the art and practice of reparation?  What if, by making the old new again, the indescribable wonder of God’s grace is illuminated? May God bless the faithful completion of our everyday tasks and give us the humility to recognize their value.

I’d love to hear from you! Have you ever tried surface mending? What tips and tricks can you share?

Do you have some clothing in need of surface mending? For your convenience, here is my clickable Amazon supply list: