(Mostly) Not Your Grandma's Mending
The word mending brings to mind a woman hunched over her sewing in a time before online shopping. Armed with a credit card and internet access, you don't even have to be bothered with putting pants on to go shopping.
Convenient as it may be, I'm craving ways to feel more connected in an online world. I want to cultivate more meaningful things in my life. Whether it's meeting new people in my own village, growing food in the garden, or, in this case, extending the life of well-made clothing, instead of ordering that cheap replacement. Textile waste (which includes cheap, acrylic clothing) is a huge source of toxic, non-biodegradable fibers. I want to choose natural clothing that is made ethically and is healthy for my body and the earth, just as I want to put ethically grown and produced food in my body.
How to choose the type of mending
Once you commit to mending a piece of clothing, that's just the beginning. If it's a tear along a seam, I'll usually stitch it up, and you'd never notice it was even torn.
However, these pants needed so much more than a little stitch up. They needed a full-on crotch reconstruction. Sounds pretty invasive, right? Well, it was. This was a big challenge, and they turned out so beautiful.
When the crotch wears out of your pants
You could take apart the pants, and replace that section of fabric. However, this is a part of the pants that you can't see when they are being worn. I opted to attach demin patches to the inside of the pants, securing with visible mending stitching.
Pin the patch, to secure in place, and then gradually stitch the patch into place using embroidery running stitches. Here's a view of the inside.
Here's the finished patch job.
There was also a pretty worn rectangle from a wallet in the back pocket. I wanted to add a little love to that worn patch with a color scheme. Using red, orange, and yellow, I stitched a rectangle rainbow on the back pocket.
After all is said and done, I love these pants. The way they fit is perfect, and I know even the same style and size would never feel just like this pair. So, a little stitching, and my credit card never even came out of my wallet.
If you like this project, check out some of my other mending adventures:
https://wrenbirdarts.com/blogs/embroidery-by-erin-eggenburg
Need some supplies?
https://wrenbirdarts.com/collections/all