The perfectly imperfect art of visible mending: A beginner's guide

Ravenna Koenig

May 24, 2023 / 9:15 pm

1 of 7Tools for visible mending.

Credit: Arounna Khounnoraj, Visible Mending, © BOOKHOU 2023

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This story was originally published on May 22, 2023, and has been updated.

When Arounna Khounnoraj was growing up, her mother, a seamstress, made and mended Khounnoraj's clothes.

She would try to make the stitches as invisible as possible, she says. "There was this association that wearing mended clothes was shameful."

Today, Khounnoraj, a Canadian fiber artist, proudly mends her own clothes. But instead of trying to hide the repairs like her mother did, she sews in a style called "visible mending." Using noticeable threads, fabrics and decorative techniques, it's a creative and expressive way to show off the mend while extending the life of your clothing.

Khounnoraj, author of the 2020 book Visible Mending: A Modern Guide to Darning, Stitching and Patching the Clothes You Love, and other textile artists explain how anyone with basic sewing skills can try this creative mending style at home.

Put together your sewing kit

Thread. You'll probably use a mix of regular thread and embroidery thread and different thicknesses of yarn. Look for reuse options in thrift stores or secondhand craft shops, and if you have friends who knit, ask for their leftover yarn.

Needles. You can get by with just two: an embroidery needle that accommodates thicker thread, which you can use for patching and stitching work, and a tapestry needle for mending knitwear with yarn.

Scrap fabric for patches. Get it at a fabric store, order scrap packs on Etsy, search thrift stores for clothes to cut up, or use old clothes you already have.

Sewing pins to keep patches in place while you sew them down (safety pins work too).

Bonus buys: Fabric scissors and thread snips are great to have, as is a darning mushroom for mending knitwear with yarn, which gives you a stable surface to work on.

Visualize your mending design

It can be hard to visualize what a mend will look like and whether you'll like it once it's done. So take a beat to think about what you want to do, says Kate Sekules, author of Mend! A Refashioning Manual and Manifesto.

Before starting any mend, look at the whole garment — its shape, texture and colors. Then brings out your supplies, lay them on top of or near the damaged area, and play with different combinations, says Sekules.

Consider the content and weight of your materials

The fiber content and weight of your mending materials should match your garment, our experts say.

If your mend is in a high-traffic area, like the elbows, knees, inner thighs or back pockets, it likely will get a lot of wear, says Khounnoraj. So choose a fabric that's a closer match to the original piece of clothing for maximum durability.

Don't forget to consider how you wash your garment. Different fabrics will react differently to washing, which can result in puckering, so you may want a mending material that washes similarly to your original article of clothing.

Figure out whether you need to darn or patch

To fix that pair of ripped jeans or moth-eaten sweater, you need to know only two basic techniques: patching and darning.

Patching: Sew another piece of fabric over or under a hole, rip or threadbare area. You can also put together a small collage of fabric instead of opting for a single patch.

Darning: Weave a patch using thread or yarn.

There aren't hard rules about when to choose a darn or a patch, but it's more common to darn knits like sweaters and patch woven material like jeans.

For entry-level patching and darning, you need to know only one simple stitch: the running stitch. It's that classic dotted line made by just pushing the needle up and down in a straight line across the fabric.

Add ornamentation to your mends with simple embroidery stitches, or seek inspiration from the Japanese embroidery tradition Sashiko.

No matter what you try, remember that it doesn't have to look perfect. It can be wonky and flawed and your own.

The beauty can be found in the effort, says textile artist, mender and teacher Christi Johnson. "Somebody put their hands on this and invested their time into it."