Quick repair on a pair of my kid’s leggings/pants, with fingers crossed she won’t notice… 
But then I also have a couple Problems from the brief period when she decided to chew holes in her skirts & sleeves:
…this was her favorite dress. Does anyone have brilliant ideas besides cutting it up for scrap?
Yes! Button hole stitch around. Like shisha mirrors without the mirrors. Or with, depending on how ambitious you’re feeling 
Add embroidery stems and leaves to make it a bunch of flowers?
Ooh, finally read the entire thread.
This is so inspiring. I have been reading/watching so many articles/documentaries on waste disposal since Marie Kondo went viral. It is mind-blowing and almost inexcusable to see how much just goes to landfill. It’s left me wishing for simpler times when stuff (textiles, especially) was made to last and people mended and made do (often out of pure necessity, I know). I’m trying to be be more mindful of what we consume and trash.
The other day, my DS2 presented me with an opportunity as he came to me, sad that he had run the knee out of a favorite pair of pants. A bit of scrap fabric and some embroidery floss and I had them mended.
Mindful mending is in now so he will be one of the cool kids with that repair…it is wonderful!
I’ve been thinking about this with the “Economy Quilt” thing from the fabric scrapalong thread… There’s a line in the original description about how this sort of quilt is “always welcome for those with expanding families & not-so-expanding purse-strings” or something similar, which is probably not true in the US at present. Or at least, the crazy amount of time that goes into something like that makes it frivolous compared to a $3-5 thrift store blanket.
You are so right…I often see crochet afghans at thrift stores for $5 or less…I know how much time and effort went into making them so it makes me sad that even at $5, they sit there.
In the US, we are taught time is money and buy services and goods to save us time…what they forgot to tell us is that often time spent on simpler things is better for ourselves, our community and our planet.
I know it is not a big project, but I took the spare buttons that came with my new PJ tops and sewed them inside. That way, if I lose a button, the spare will be there. I used to just throw all of these in a tin and never find the right one. This will help me down the road…I just did one or two double thread stitches so I can cut if off easily.
Forgot about this 
Mended my sons coat before he went away with school. Some of the seams had come unstitched.
I have a pile of other mending to do - it’s on the to do list, but other stuff tends to get put to the top, like college homework.
I stitched my son’s bedtime tiger’s tail back on, after an unfortunate bedtime tug of war incident. I gave a bunch of other toys to do, but this one is his fave so I did right away.
what a simple but brilliant idea.
My favorite pair of jeans is about to explode along several seams & the knees and I am trying to decide whether to do extensive patching (leaving the fabric stiffer & less comfy than before) or wear them to bits & then toss them into the scrap denim pile. 
I saw a girl at the sporting goods store with lots of rips down the front of her jeans…and while they looked cool on that young girl, I really wanted to offer to boro her jeans for her! ha ha
I had three pairs in the scrap pile that I pulled out last week…they are comfy and I am going to patch them on the outside only…I will just wear leggings under if the holes are too big
The traditional rule for oiling furniture or other woodenware is: “one a day for a week; once a week for a month; once a month for a year; and once a year for the rest of your life.”
The thing about the ripped jeans is that you can tell when it’s just ripped versus when the fabric is just about to disintegrate; the reason I can tell my jeans are going is that I can see light through a bunch of bits when I take them off. Fortunately the thrift store has provided a similar but still in good shape pair, so I can take my time deciding what to do about the old ones.
That’s why worn out jeans are so hard to mend. There is no ‘good’ fabric to sew the patch onto. And because the tightest part of trousers tend to get worn out, patches on the inside can get uncomfortable too. I haven’t found a perfect solution yet. Usually I repurpose them. I think I promised to take some pics of my jeans projects a while back, I’ll do that tomorrow.
ugh…nothing is worse than when you try to repair the inner thighs…feels terrible and uncomfortable…that is when I also repurpose them…I will repair knees, pockets, zippers, butt and upper thigh, but inner thigh…NO
Exactly; this pair actually survived a couple inner thigh patches, but the edges of those are going. That’s why any sort of fixing is going to require extensive patching & reinforcement; I’m vaguely thinking about cutting open the legs & attacking them with scrap fabric & my embroidery machine, but haven’t decided if it’s worth it or not.
I’ve always mended and repaired, or upcycled, things.
I have a hard time throwing away things that can still be used, either for their original purpose or for an entirely new purpose.
If clothes can not be mended, they often still make nice pieces of fabric and end up in my Room of Possibilities (craft supplies warehouse).
Also, store bought clothes often need adjustments to be a perfect fit, I find.
When I find jeans that fit (hooray, I’m two sizes down!), I almost always need to shorten the legs. I have a method where I keep the often characteristic hem and take out a piece of the fabric above it.
Also: men’s handkerchiefs are perfect material for making new insides for jeans pockets with holes in them.
My mom used to wash her old and torn nylon stockings and give them to me. I would cut them up in strips and use them to stuff my handmade pillows.
