Darning, a once detested job for me, has become quite enjoyable, especially when it comes to mending hand-knitted socks. Recently, however, I was presented with a rather different prospect.
We have a muslin curtain to provide some privacy in our living room and when I was washing this a few weeks ago I managed to tear it. It’s not really surprising, I made this particular curtain about 15 years ago, so it has been exposed to a lot of UV and the fibres were bound to start breaking down sooner or later. Nevertheless, I was reluctant to abandon it just yet and considered a couple of options. First, I thought about cutting the torn strip out and joining the two halves back together, The fabric is wide enough to do this, but it would have left a very obvious seam down the middle and I would have had to fiddle about with the top where there is a channel for the rod to go through. I dismissed this plan. My alternative was to try some sort of darn, using fine thread. It wasn’t going to be possible to make this invisible, but I didn’t want a big bold mend either. I, therefore, chose some pale cotton thread and set to with my needle:
It turns out that I achieved an almost invisible mend, unintentionally. What do you think?
The Snail of Happiness 
katechiconi
/ January 10, 2019Pretty good, I’d say! The trick with a mend like that is always not to overlap too much, and I think you’ve achieved an excellent result. It’s not as if the mend is going to be subject to lots of lateral pressure, so it should certainly last well.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 10, 2019I’m just going to have th be careful next time I wash it. I always just wash it by hand and I managed to put my finger through as I was lifting it out of the water last time. Fortunately, as you point out, all it does is hang there when in use so I think I’ll get a good while out of it yet.
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katechiconi
/ January 10, 2019Maybe wash it in one of those mesh bags used for underwear?
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 10, 2019And be very very careful when I hang it out… which might have been when I tore it originally
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Shirley
/ January 10, 2019Well done what a great result
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nanacathy2
/ January 10, 2019Looks good to me, I seem to have had a lot of cushion covers to fix recently. A Suffolk puff was coming off one last week. Two minutes work to get it back on. Stitch in time etc..
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 10, 2019Sometimes my problem is actually motivating myself to start… once I get going the mend is often relatively enjoyable.
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Patricia Collins
/ January 10, 2019Agree. Found myself sewing on some buttons yesterday. It was a job that had hung around for weeks. Then, while in the mending mood I fixed my straw waste paper basket that, thanks to the dog, was beginning to unravel. so satisfying when the mood strikes.
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TammiePainter
/ January 10, 2019I like it! The mend and the texture of the fabric almost looks intentional and creates a neat crackling appearance.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 10, 2019I was a bit surprised that it actually worked so well.
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anne54
/ January 10, 2019Invisible mend indeed, and the pleasure of knowing that it will last quite a while longer. I having to mend our doona covers lately. They are wearing at the top, but the rest is perfectly fine. They are bulky to sew, but we should get a lot more wear out of them.
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arlingwoman
/ January 11, 2019Good for you. It’s entirely invisible in the window and I liked seeing the close-up.
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Kim
/ January 11, 2019Very impressive result!
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