I have been working on re-soling Mr Imma’s slippers for a long time! Will try to finish this month ;–)
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It’s November… I’m debating if my trousers are too far gone to mend or if I should give it a go 
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Does it count if I’ve “repurposed” the whole pile as a room accessory? 
Kidding, kidding. This is a great prompt- it might encourage the saving of an embroidered piece of a pillow or blanket or maybe taking the image from a beloved tshirt and framing it instead. Thanks for the inspiration!
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The December challenge could be to repurpose the pile into a holiday decoration. Just slap some tinsel and lights on it 
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haha, yes! “If you’re so enterprising you could arrange the mending in color coded sections to make a festive spiral effect. Or go for minimalism and shine a light on that pile of black shirts that just keep popping buttons…”
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I just ordered replacement buttons for a jacket! Normally I wouldn’t care if buttons mis-matched sleeves vs front etc, but this jacket is in pristine condition and I’m sending it to a consignment shop. So I bought a whole set of new buttons and will replace everything instead of just adding “close enough”.
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I bought a wool sweater from an online store that sells second hand stuff recently. Among other clothes I also added a skein of yarn on a whim. It looked intriguing, called ”long mink wool”, and wasn’t the usual cheap but overpriced yarn that tends to appear on that site.
The sweater was great, but after wearing it a few times I noticed a small hole on one sleeve. I could probably have asked for my money back, but it was perfectly mendable and the price was laughably low already. The lovely mink yarn was a good colour match so I had unknowingly bought supplies to mend it 
Finished low visibility mend. I had some fun with it! There’s chain stitch, uh… a flat long stitch and one french knot just because.
Work in progress. Not pictured: the cat that wanted to be in my lap/in my face. I used sewing thread to try to secure the tiny running stitch first. Then chain stitch round the hole before filling the space in between and adding a french knot. I weaved back and forth over the hole on the inside to secure it further.
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I’m on a roll… I often fray up the back of my trouser legs. Annoyingly more on one side than the other because one of my legs is a bit longer than the other.
Last night I was finally fed up enough to do something about it. I trimmed the loose threads and used two strands of pale blue embroidery thread to just blanket stitch the ruined hem together. Quick and dirty mend, but it works!
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When do you give up? I have a lovely but extremely hole-y storebought sweater. I’ve done some mending but a bunch of new holes surfaced after the wash. I’m temptedto just felt it on purpose at this point, but I don’t know…
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If you felt it on purpose would it become a fun craft supply to make stuff out of it? Gifts? Ornaments? A garland of cut out shapes like sweaters or stockings?
Or would it be more helpful for me to say toss it? I can do that, too.
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I love that we’re giving each other permission to toss things Allowing it to be reborn as craft supplies is appealing, but I’ll see how I feel about it. If it’s just going to sit here in a pile it’s better to throw it away.
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Lately I have been working on being honest with myself about what should be kept in my spaces and what should be let go. I have the tendency to keep every “perfectly good” whatever- in whatever state of good that means. (It would be perfect for… once I make this mend/adjustment, etc., it could be…) but that usually means it just gets stored indefinitely. Or, like the rotisserie chicken package from the grocers that is “a perfect first terrarium thing for the kid!” That is currently holding her sidewalk chalk… you get the idea.
Part of my decluttering and maintaining a functional craft life right now is decluttering my headspace of thoughts like not accepting that we have limited space and limited time. I am working on choosing “the good stuff” in all facets- keeping good projects and supplies on hand and letting go of the “should” projects that honestly don’t speak to me, choosing good/quality time with my family over “sorry, i cant play yet, chores…”
So, if the sweater is no longer working for you and is more a “-sigh- should keep” than a “ooh! It would be fun to try…” then I vote to let it go. Whether that’s to a fabric recycler, stuffed into a dog or cat bed for some extra fluff over winter, or even (get your pearls ready to clutch) to unceremoniously add it to the trash bin. Our “stuff” is supposed to work for us to make our lives happier and more satisfying. Anything that works counter to that goal should be allowed to move on and seek its fortune elsewhere.
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Well said!
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The sweater did not felt well on the first try so I’ll give it another go, or just cut out the parts that did felt better. I did let another broken thing go today. We tried our best to mend it, didn’t work, so into the recycling it went instead of being pretty but broken and in the way.
My other weekend project was this:
It’ll be a challenge… I’ve started picking up stitches at the start of the toe, but it’s fiddly. I tried picking up just under the hole, but that’s not gonna happen!
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Did you manage to repair the hole?
I did a whole bunch of mending this week. I fixed two rips old pillow cases. It’s an old set from when we just got together, but next year we are going to renovate our home and we want to buy new sheets then that will match our new wallpaper. So we’re holding on to old sets for as long as we can. Last winter I cut up all my scraps of quilting fabric into standard sized squares, so I only had two get two fun 3" squares to cover the rips. Never too old for fun fabrics!! I used steam-a-seam to iron the squares on as the fabric has worn so thin that stitching will only damage it further.
Also fixed a whole bunch of boring things, loose seams and the like. I’ve worked through more than half of the mending pile so far.
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That’s cute!
I haven’t fixed the sock yet. I started picking up stitches for reknitting the entire toe, but lost steam. Maybe as a holiday craft/mend.
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I haven’t taken a picture because there are more to do, but I’ve darned a whole PILE of wool socks over the last couple of months. 
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Such a cute mend! I am always annoyed when I can’t find fun print king size sheets. Maybe I should start doing fun mends on my solid color ones when the dogs rip holes in them.
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Tried to find flannel king sheets this year that were fun prints & wouldn’t turn me blue (bad experience with cheap flannels a few years ago!) or other colors … very disappointing!
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Yes, I hate that “grown up” stuff has to be so boring all the time! Or if they’re nice they cost $$$. Same with curtains. I made all of my curtains myself because the stores just sold beige and grey and the like. I need some colour in my life!
I’ve thought about making my own sheets if I can’t find nice ones but if you sew them yourself you’re always going to have a seam in the middle.
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