killing fast fashion one mend at a time

a blog dedicated to education and encouragement towards rejecting fast fashion, mending instead of throwing away, and other sustainability issues mod is Z, he/him

[isuggestmending]

this post is being fixed slowly, in trying to figure out the tags i have used and putting links in accordingly! i might put them under a cut instead if they get to be too long of a list 😵‍💫

thank you for sending submissions!! i have been busy and not feeling well but i am trying to get to them soon 💜 thank u for ur patience

Tag Navigation:

Mending

Visible Mending

Sewing Tutorials

Clothes making

Embroidery

Accessibility

Fabric Care

Upcycling/Thrifting

Ecology

Sustainability

Fashion Industry

News

Snips and Quips (fun text posts)

everybody's welcome here! I hope everyone can learn something about maintaining their current wardrobe, alterations, mending, and helping prevent ecological damage from the vicious buy-and-toss-out cycles perpetuated by Big Fashion (yes this especially includes Shein)

my hope is that we are all students in the classroom of the world and no one feels the need to attack another. please approach all discussions and questions in good faith. thank you!

Mod is Z, i'm 35, he/him pronouns. I'm broke but I can share fundraisers at @boyslit which is my main.

I've been doing fiber crafts for... *counts on my fingers* oh jeez, almost 30 years. My mother taught me how to start sewing when I was around 7, crochet when I was ten, I taught myself to knit and cross-stitch, and I had a very short but arguably successful run of a fiber crafts club at school, which introduced at least three friends to crochet/knitting :) I have in recent years developed carpal tunnel syndrome so accessibility in crafting is also something I'd like to share here if I can find resources.

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

@namelessennes

[avidreaderffn]

@sandstonesunspear

[polyamorousmisanthrope]

Jesus Tapdancing Christ... THIS is a good welt pocket and the people who designed Simplicity 2895 ought to be blasted well ASHAMED of themselves for the crap way THEY wanted a welt pocket made. *SNARLS*

[makereadgrow]

This is how I learned to do it and a good example of what you want to see in a short form tutorial: pinning, pressing, seam finishing, good fabric handling.

I would mention that you can make the pocket facing with a small panel of your matching fabric that is visible and the rest in a lighter fabric to reduce bulk. That's a lot of denim layers for comfort.

[teaboot]

HOT DAMN

[little-critter-in-the-attic]

Another update to this project! In the last update I said I would transition the red pattern into orange towards the top, so here are the pics!

I decided on a slightly gradual transition by adding some more red horizontal lines before switching to orange entirely.

Next step is going to be finishing the grid lines on the other leg, and then covering it with green and (orange, yellow or red?) rice stitch.

[microsuedemouse]

okay so this is just a WIP obviously but. tonight I am learning that waffle knit is actually a DELIGHT to darn

(please excuse the deodorant smudge on the shirt lol. I knew if I put it in the wash after taking it off the other day, I’d forget once again to actually mend it.)

I’m using the blue and green combo for a few reasons - part of it is that I just like visible mending, tbh. part of it is also that I didn’t have a good colour match; the shirt is just the tiniest bit greener than my navy embroidery floss. mostly I like doing my mends in a fun contrasting colour, but I couldn’t find one I really liked with the shirt that didn’t somehow come out evoking Christmas?? so I decided on the blue-green combo that goes well with the shirt. idk. I’m happy with how it’s going. and I’m having fun even

[polka-dot-pot-pie]

Having to shove my whole arm up the pant leg to sew on higher up patches feeling like I’m helping a cow give birth but less gloopy

[pterribledinosaurdrawings]

[pterribledinosaurdrawings]

@rubber-ducky-your-the-one replied to your post:

I need to know the thought procces that led to this

​What do you mean? Did I not make it clear enough in the drawings? Do you need a photo of all 23 waistcoats currently in my closet?

It's 26 if you count the 3 leaf bolero vests. This isn't even close to all the ones I've ever made, I've donated plenty of older ones to the theatre.

[pterribledinosaurdrawings]

#sewing dinosaur please share your wisdom #i want nothing more than to make a waistcoat #but i tried once and it was super difficult #do you know any patterns or tutorials for beginners?

I have made videos on sewing several of the things in this picture! Here's a link to my youtube channel.

Though I'm not sure if I'd call them beginner friendly. I go over every technique VERY thoroughly, but I mostly do 18th century or 18th century inspired stuff, which includes a lot of hand sewing and completely different tailoring techniques from what you'll find in modern waistcoats.

The first of the 3 leaf boleros I make in this one is pretty simple though, so that ought to be fairly beginner friendly. (The light green one)

You could make a super basic waistcoat with the same sewing and turning method and just add some buttons & holes. (I have tutorials for covered buttons and buttonholes too if you want to do those by hand.)

OH also! That brown monster print waistcoat in the closet picture is a print I designed that's available on Spoonflower.

That one's got more machine sewing than the brocade one in the first video, but I haven't made a video about that method yet. My most recent leaf one is machine sewn and turned, but hasn't got any pockets.

Edit: Forgot to mention my sewing blog is @vincentbriggs

[attackedbytwees]

I love the dinosaur edge detail on the white one!

[pterribledinosaurdrawings]

That one's light grey!

And I can understand the confusion since I posted it on this blog, but they're monsters or perhaps creatures.

[journiland]

I combined my holey favorite slippers with hospital socks and now have repaired slippers

Before:

After:

[journiland]

I saw one of my favorite YouTubers (Benita Larsson) repair a hole in the elbow of a wool sweater by needle felting a chunk of wool on. (She shaped it into a heart.) Might have to try that when my wool "slippers" (thick socks) get heel holes.

[stonednegativecreep]

Look at the pigeon I stitched onto bag for @spookywriterssugermomma

[findingpeacethroughchaos]

[vincentbriggs]

My machine sewn shirt tutorial is FINALLY FINISHED! Written tutorial on the blog, video tutorial on youtube. Both probably more detailed than necessary.

I'll post more shirt pictures later, right now I need to go work on other stuff to give my brain a rest from all the shirts.

[vincentbriggs]

I've already had several people tell me they've made shirts based on this and that the instructions were easy to follow, which is very exciting to hear!!

[vincentbriggs]

Happy 1 year anniversary to the most time & labour intensive tutorial I've ever made! (It's my longest video, and the written version is split between 4 blog posts, so it was a huge amount of work.)

I have no way of knowing how many shirts it's caused to exist, but it seems to be quite a few! I've gotten a lot of nice comments from people saying they made shirts and found it very easy to follow, as well as a number of people saying it helped solve problems they'd had on previous shirt attempts.

I haven't made any new shirts this year, so I ought to do some soon.

[vincentbriggs]

Yayyy more shirts! more shirts are still happening!

[jigjamjupiter]

i bought this shirt (thrifted) for fabric, and used a sleeve to patch the butt of my fav pants...

then changed my mind about the shirt being fabric and had to make a new sleeve for it. even cooler and more awesome now!!!

pants patches :

me in awesome shirt:

[local-edgelord]

fixing up my pants sloppy style

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

How to fix a ripped plushie (clear and easy to follow) by 浪浪山陈三丫头手缝师傅

[pocket-deer-belly]

ok thank god there's so many fucking videos showing you how to do a ladder stitch like it's some kind of magic trick but here's the actual use case for it: closing a seam you can't reach the inside of. in all other cases, if you're fixing a ripped seam on pants, or on a tshirt, the ladder stitch is a messy, glorified running stitch.

[vilewilde]

this may be the best demonstration of a ladder stitch I've ever seen. I've done this one a few times, but I always mess up hiding the thread at the end, this video makes it very easy to see exactly what you need to do. neat!

[asongoftearsandfandoms]

I need to try this, that was amazing to watch, and I have a ripped plushie to try this on

[im-very-sorry]

darning is great because i can fix my socks but it is horrible because any time i do not wear my socks while darning them it comes out horrible. so i have to become shrimp just to wear socks. what the fuck

[isuggestmending]

some good alternatives in your comments here are darning eggs and apples or oranges!

i inherited a very old wooden darning egg from my grandmother, much easier on the back

[florad0ra]

fun upcycle/repair from today

[phasmidd]

finally got round to darning my socks