Well Worn: Visible Mending for the Clothes You Love

Textile artist Pennant debuts with a practical guide to repairing clothing in ways that emphasize the mending process. “The fashion industry is one of the top most polluting industries on the planet,” Pennant writes, suggesting that extending the lifetime of clothes through mending constitutes a crucial means of reducing ecological harm. The detailed overview of tools and materials recommends choosing fabric patches “of a similar weight and fibre content” to the garment and needle sizes that correspond to the thickness of the thread. The handy projects mostly rely on hand sewing, showing how to repair a frayed collar on a shirt with a sashiko patch, mend worn-out cuffs with plain-weave darning, and cover up tears in a leather jacket with leather polka dots. A brief primer on darning, patching, and sashiko provides some helpful tips (sashiko stitches should be “about the length of a grain of rice” and readers should be sure to leave enough slack in the thread when darning to prevent puckering), but Pennant doesn’t offer much guidance on how to actually perform the techniques. The wordy instructions and tendency to cover several steps in a single illustration will make it difficult for novices to follow along. This is best suited for experienced sewists with a penchant for sustainability. (May)