Just like the Japanese peasants of the Edo period, I think that nothing should ever be wasted, and imperfections have their own subtle and simple beauty. Use these tips to fix a hole and mend your favorite pair of pants to add a unique character while also preventing more damage.
4 tips to fix a hole
Going for natural materials in a wardrobe is the best, however, they tend to show signs of wear more quickly. In this post, I am repairing linen pants that I found last year in a swap event in Lisbon. I hope you find these tips useful!
1. Choosing materials
- Needle: Use a fine needle if you are working with fragile fabrics. If the needle is thick it might damage the fabric. Another piece of advice is that you want to make sure the needle has a sharp tip, to get through the fabric easily.
Thread: Use a good quality thread for the longevity of the mending. You don’t want the stitches to be ripped after a few washing. Select a long enough thread so that you can finish mending in one shot but avoid cutting too long. You can use your arm length for reference. Tie a sturdy knot in the end.
- Embroidery hoop: Using a wooden embroidery hoop can help you get the fabric stable, the tension helps you make neater stitches. But that’s okay if you do not have one.
2. Patching
You can definitely close the hole with a few beginner sewing techniques. But if the hole is too large I recommend you use a piece of fabric to reinforce the damaged area in the pants. Use similar color if you want an invisible result. In my case here, I only found a white scrap cotton fabric around me, and I was planning to cover it with red stitching anyway so I thought it was okay! Turn your jeans inside out, pin your patch right side down, placing the pins on either side of the hole.
3. Stitching
The most basic sashiko stitch (a Japanese technique for embroidery) is like a running stitch. Try to gather as many stitches as you can fit on your needle. Pull through carefully. Repeat this all along the patch until you fill the area with parallel embroidery stitches.
4. Getting creative
Once the patch is sewn, it is time to embellish it with an embroidered scene that you like. What I experience with stitching is that the more effort and love that I put into the work, longer time I will be in love with the piece. So show some love to the “imperfections” and turn them into beauty!
Voilà ! (thinks of Eurovision song of France here, obv she could win though)
Here I used, simple stitches and french knots to make some floral designs. I used red thread to mend as invisibly as I can, also because my patch was white so I wanted to hide it.
I hope you find these tips useful! Feel free to share with me how you bring new life to your loved clothes by tagging me on IG!
Bisous!
