April 1, 2024
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.
April 1, 2024
As more people become aware of the environmental costs of fast fashion, the movement to repair, reuse, and recycle worn clothing has expanded. Enter visible mending, the practice of creatively patching, darning, and embroidering damaged clothing. Textile artist Pennant provides an accessible overview of the most popular visible mending methods, and she gives plenty of tips and tricks for making sure the results are useful, along with numerous reminders to take it slow and check work often. Concepts, techniques, and tools are introduced in the first sections of the book. That's followed by projects that provide step-by-step guidance on how to repair holes, worn cuffs and collars, threadbare areas of clothing, and more. The projects are illustrated by both photos and drawings, which can, at times, be a bit challenging to parse. But the variety of the designs presents many practice opportunities, and examples of completed work give a sense of what is possible. How to handle delicate, stretchy, and nonwoven fabrics is covered too. The discussion of the origins of some techniques might encourage readers to explore further. VERDICT A solid how-to manual for mending techniques.--Rebecca Brody
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