Whilst I haven’t been blogging recently, I have been busy with other projects… several of which have involved scraps, so this is only the first of a couple of ScrapHappy posts this month.
Mr Snail spends most of his life wearing jeans, and he has a sort of hierarchy, from relatively new to ancient and only suitable for gardening/practical conservation work. I used to refuse to mend them, but my discovery of boro mending and my determination to keep as much stuff out of landfill as possible has encouraged me, in recent years, to regard the continued life of these jeans as a personal challenge.
Boro makes use of scraps of fabric behind the tear or hole to reinforce the garment and then lots of running stitches which form a visible mend and which rely on the additional fabric to act as a foundation. If the hole is big, or of you what to make a feature of it, it’s fine for the reinforcing fabric to show through. And it is this fabric that has been the destination of a variety of scraps. I’ve used several sorts of fabric, including some cotton jersey and we’ll see what works best.
First I repaired the seat of a pair of work jeans. The knees of these jeans had been patched with waterproof fabric (salvaged from a raincoat that the dog ate) a while ago and that has lasted well, but both sides of the seat area had split, so I used some scraps of checked cotton drill, edged using my overlocker, to repair these.
Next I moved on to some ‘everyday’ jeans. One knee of these had been mended twice previously, but the other knee was close to tearing and, again, the seat was worn through on one side… perhaps Mr Snail has been doing too much sitting down recently! This very odd pair of jeans is significantly darker on the inside than the outside – you’d never guess those were the same mends, would you?
All the fabric was small off-cuts from previous projects that otherwise could have been considered to be waste (too small even for dusters, which I made a few more of from some of Mr Snail’s old pyjamas last week).
Watch out for more scrappy activity soon!
I’ve been inspired to write this (and future) ScrapHappy posts by Kate, who provides links to other (mostly sewing)Â ScrapHappy bloggers at Tall Tales from Chiconia on the fifteenth of every month… do check them out.
The Snail of Happiness 
thecontentedcrafter
/ April 14, 2018I think that technique makes an otherwise tedious chore a fun and arty endeavour! Being able to catch just the slightest glimpse of a colour or pattern peeking through a large mend is brilliant. And it so fits in with the fix-it movement and will add to its popularity too I think. I’d love to live to see the day when everyone is wearing artfully mended clothing!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 14, 2018I have started to quite enjoy these mends… particularly when the garment already has several of them. I’m trying to be spontaneous about each mend and choose fabric and thread that appeal to me on the day rather than to match up with previous mends. Although it’s not scrap, the thread has been sitting in my sewing box for the last 30 years so it’s about time it got used too!
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katechiconi
/ April 15, 2018Brilliant! A double whammy today, not just using scraps beautifully, but also impressively attractive and multiple mends. In the very best ScrapHappy spirit 🙂
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arlingwoman
/ April 15, 2018This is interesting, especially since I ripped the knee of a pair of pants last fall and have been cogitating on how best to repair it. It’s an odd tear, but I have a couple more ideas now.
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Nice Piece of Work
/ April 15, 2018The next step would be to mend Mr Snail’s jeans with the patches on the outside. That would “cuten up” everyone’s day…. 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 15, 2018I suspect he might draw the line at that!
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nanacathy2
/ April 15, 2018Love the foxy mends, makes me very scrap happy.
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tialys
/ April 15, 2018A great scraphappy entry. Are you using special Sashiko thread?
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 15, 2018No, it’s 30-year old DMC “Coton Perle” 8 which I have lots of left over from my (long-gone) days of Brazilian 3-D flower embroidery.
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Ann Pole
/ April 15, 2018I’m impressed.
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KerryCan
/ April 15, 2018I like boro a lot–I haven’t done any, mind you, but I keep seeing it and thinking about it! And wasn’t that fox fabric also used in your knickers??
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 15, 2018It was indeed… and I have more!
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Laurie Graves
/ April 15, 2018Great mending!
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tinaor
/ April 16, 2018So good to read about mending – I hate this world we live in where everything seems to just be thrown away when it gets slightly damaged. Mends can become a feature ! Well done.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 16, 2018These days I try to buy things that I know can be mended – so many items are designed so that they can’t be repaired, it makes me really cross.
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quietwatercraft
/ April 18, 2018Well I fell down a rabbit hole there. Now I feel like a fair expert in boro mending and I’ve made my pledge to 1 Million Women to cut my carbon! I’ve come to like visible mending so I’m definitely up for giving boro a go.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 18, 2018I think letting go of the idea of invisible mending has made a big difference to me. I also love the idea of doing my bit to save the planet with a needle and thread.
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Born To Organize
/ April 18, 2018A mend a day keeps the landfill away! I love the cute little fox print. Well done, Jan.
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