Joyful Mending

Joyful Mending shows you how to repair and improve old items of clothing by turning tears and flaws into beautiful features. Simply by applying a few easy sewing, darning, felting, or crocheting techniques, as well as some sashiko and other favorite embroidery stitches, you can repair your favorite pieces in a transformative way. Along with her own philosophy of mindfullness and Wabi-Sabi mending, author Noriko Misumi teaches you how to: Repair any kind of fabric that is torn, ripped or stained--whether knitted or woven Work with damaged flat or curved surfaces to make them aesthetically pleasing again Create repairs that blend in, as well as bold or whimsical visible repairs Darn your handmade or expensive gloves, sweaters and socks to make them look great again The joy to be found in working with your hands and the personal artistry you discover within yourself lie at the heart of this book. While nothing lasts forever, there's pleasure, as well as purpose, in appreciating age and imperfection. Joyful Mending allows you to surround yourself with the things that truly give you joy, whether they were given to you by a loved one, picked up in your travels or simply have a special place in your heart.

Mend, rethink, transform, recreate! Mending With Love shows you how to apply embroidery, patching, darning, felting, stamping and a little crochet to worn pieces of clothing or household items. Instead of stowing or throwing away damaged pieces that hold happy memories, you can employ these beautiful and sustainable ideas to give them a new life. With this book, you'll learn how to: Repair knitted and woven fabrics Work with flat and curved surfaces Artfully repair comfy, well-made socks and gloves Make a statement with creative patching Fill in holes with roving using felting techniques Use embroidery to visibly mend frays or damage from the odd cat claw Apply other tips and techniques to torn, worn, or stained favorites Creative as well as practical, mending is both a source of pleasure and an eco-friendly fashion statement. Instead of buying more stuff with less meaning, this method allows you to hold on to the things that have a special place in your heart.

One simple stitch can bring new life to hundreds of your favorite things! Boro is the Japanese straight stitch used to repair and reinforce fabrics that is the basis for Sashiko. It is a favorite among visible mending enthusiasts because of its simplicity and because it adds an intriguing textural element to favorite garments and home furnishings. In this new book, Sashiko expert Harumi Horiuchi shares her ideas for using Boro to patch holes and tears, reinforce worn areas, and add fresh details to garments. Her approach is simple—the things you love are worth fixing. Rediscover your favorite items by giving them a new look and feel—while also being good to the environment. Her demonstrations and instructions make the process easy and enjoyable. Here are just a few of the things you'll learn in this book: Discover the pleasure of working with old fabrics and making classic neutrals come alive Be inspired to give old scraps of cloth new purpose, whether patching a well-loved skirt or a pair of jeans Learn to revive a faithful cloth bag, or even something knitted like a favorite pair of worn woolen socks And so much more! There's no need to stop at reinforcement and repair. Remake an entire garment by artfully patching it here, there and everywhere. The more you patch, the more unique your garment becomes. This book will be just the start of giving new life to hundreds of old things!

A hands-on manual and a history and celebration of clothes tending--and its remarkable resurgence as art form, political statement, and path to healing the planet. “For Fans of NBC’s Making It, Bravo’s Project Runway, or shopping vintage: A sweater gets a hole? Sew it closed... Part history and part how-to, Mend! traces the task’s evolution from a 1950s chore to a DIY sustainability movement.” —Marie Claire For thousands of years, mending was a deep craft that has for too long been a secret history. But now it's back, bigger and better than ever. In this book Kate Sekules introduces the art of visible mending as part of an important movement to give fashion back its soul. Part manifesto, part how-to, MEND! calls for bold new ways of keeping clothes and refreshing your style. Crammed with tips, fun facts, ravishing photography, and illustrated tutorials, MEND! tells you exactly how to rescue and renew your wardrobe with flair and aplomb--and save money along the way. Whether you've never owned a needle or are an aspiring professional, MEND! gives you clear instruction and witty advice, with over thirty techniques, from classic darning and patching to cheeky new methods invented by Sekules, to help you turn every garment into a unique fashion statement. Including interviews with menders, shameful fashion industry facts, a ten-step closet mend, cheat sheets, stitch guides, moth elimination, museum conservator and vintage dealer tricks, and more, this is a book to inspire, delight, and galvanize. Sharp, funny, and incredibly timely, MEND! leads the slow fashion revolution into its next phase, where getting dressed is a joyful, creative experience for all.

This guide explores visible mending techniques in both hands-on projects and thoughtful insight about how mending relates to mindful well-being. Mending Matters explores sewing on two levels: First, it includes more than twenty projects that showcase visible mending—styles that are edgy, modern, and bold, yet draw on traditional stitching. It does all this with just four simple mending techniques: exterior patches, interior patches, slow stitches, darning, and weaving. In addition, the book addresses the way mending leads to a more mindful relationship to fashion and to overall well-being. In essays that accompany each how-to chapter, Katrina Rodabaugh explores mending as a metaphor for appreciating our own naturally flawed selves. She also examines the ways in which mending teaches us new skills, self-reliance, and confidence, all gained from making things with our own hands.

We all have that favorite pair of jeans - no matter how baggy or worn they might become. In the movement against throw-away culture and fast fashion, learn how to pick up a needle and rediscover the forgotten techniques and the joy of mending. In Visible Mending, Arounna explores why we should mend, and how to mend a variety of different fabrics. Work through the illustrated step-by-step instructions that will demystify mending techniques and discover how these can be easily applied to old items to give them a fresh, modern look. Packed with skill-based projects, this book reveals how to patch jeans, embroider over tears, dye stains and use the Japanese art of Sashiko. Visible Mending is a book for those who want to learn how to make the most of their wardrobes, be less wasteful, more sustainable and add a personal touch to their garments.

When your favorite cup is broken, kitsugi can bring new life. Instead of lamenting the breakage embrace and love the opportunity to create something new and beautiful through mending. This is the appeal of kintsugi. Kintsugi is the mindful Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics and glassware by appreciating the cracks and chips as design elements—bringing new life to cherished items. Kintsugi:The Wabi Sabi Art of Japanese Ceramic Repair shares traditional methods you can practice in your own home. Step-by-step lessons in repairs suited to every level of experiences—filling cracks to completely rebuilding and finishing a broken piece—fill the pages of this in-depth yet unintimidating guide. Ceramics and lacquer guru Kaori Mochinaga offers a complete course in using urushi lacquer and metallic powder in the traditional Japanese way. Your broken piece soon becomes whole again, and more meaningful than ever before. From assessing the damages and selecting the repair methods, to applying the finishing touches, you'll learn all the essential kintsugi techniques, including: How to seal a fine crack or repair a chipped rim Techniques for rebuilding a shard, restoring a handle, even reconstructing a multi-shard piece And much more—and all of it with the use of non-toxic lacquers and powders There's something here for every type of repair—from clean, simple breaks to more challenging reconstructions as you learn the techniques. Assemble your tools, set up your workspace, and let this book guide you through the mindful art of kintsugi!

David Rothenberg is one of our most eloquent observers of the interplay between nature, culture, and technology. These nineteen pieces exemplify what has been called Rothenberg's "amiable" mix of interests, styles, and approaches. In settings that range from wildest Norway to his own front porch in upstate New York, Rothenberg discusses the Hudson River School of painters, the hazy provenance of Chief Seattle's famous speech, ecoterrorism, suburbia, the World Wide Web, and much more. He asks if we can save a place less obtrusively than by turning it into a park. He muses on the plight of a pacifist beset by a swarm of mosquitoes. He ascends Mt. Ventoux with Petrarch and Mt. Katahdin with Thoreau. In Always the Mountains, Rothenberg dares us to "enjoy the fundamental uncertainty that grounds human existence," to wean ourselves from the habit of simple answers and embrace the world's vastness.