Mending for 'Dummies' Part I

A perfectionist novice learning to mend as a radical act of self care

It keeps getting worse. And by ‘it,’ I mean the state of the union, for one. The 2024 U.S. election results have reaffirmed for me, if nothing else, that literally anything is possible these days. My head hurts, my heart hurts, and I am scared for the future at this moment. However I understand and empathize with the rejection of the Democratic party; these donkeys are truly in their flop era.

I’ve spent the past month or so licking my wounds. I succumbed to the holiday season as a welcome distraction, though I feel especially bloated from the excessive merriment and consumer marketing this year! We’re being literally hunted by sales around every corner. Plus, the added pressure of impending tariffs and inflated price tags make the manufactured shopping urgency feel particularly sinister right now.

As a member of the “all-but-discarded” working class, I can’t (afford to) give up on my/our future, or continue consuming the way I have in the past. 2025 fast approaches, and my immediate plan for now is to redirect all of the extra emotion I’m feeling into personal and communal betterment. For starters, I’ve decided to focus on mending my clothes this fall/winter.

In an effort to curb impulse and convenience shopping amidst the 2020’s perpetual cost of living crisis, we’re playing the long game. The vibe is saying ‘no’ right now (to non-essential ‘little’ treats), so I can say ‘yes’ later (to living expenses, financial goals, mutual aid, and keeping my dog daughter happy).

Sadly for me, clothing could be considered a ‘non-essential’ treat as I have more than enough garments for virtually any occasion. Saying ‘no’ to shopping is a big deal personally, as someone who is known for and defined in part by their sartorial expertise. To paraphrase one of my favorite substack writers Esque (Em Seely-Katz) from their recent post “How to love Fashion Without Money,” it truly seems as if money is a prerequisite to loving fashion, or even being fashionable at times! I too would like to challenge that notion and reframe my own perspective on what it means to be stylish (on a budget).

If you’re reading this, (hi, I love you, thank you) you probably recognize that mending is a radical act. Mending clothes helps to quell consumption and textile waste (duh). Mending is also a lost artform. Garment repair has fallen out of favor, as it’s now cheaper to replace clothes than it is to fix them. Simply put, mending is expensive. Mostly because it takes a lot of time (human labor), and a little bit of talent to fix things.

Mending should be accessible to everyone both in cost and knowledge. You should not have to pay to learn basic mending skills (if you don’t want to!) And while I applaud the talented fiber artists I am lucky to know and befriend, I am committed to becoming more self-sufficient with clothing care. Here is how I have fared in the past few months as a newbie mender and how much it cost:

• Fabric Markers are my new favorite thing: It is inevitable that I will stain my favorite garments either in a laundry bleach accident (happened twice this past month) or while cooking/eating/drinking/cleaning/existing near food. I have some trusted stain removal tools, but even those fail sometimes, especially up against the clorox. So when that happens, I have taken to doodling on my clothes with color coordinated fabric markers. I even revived a faded graphic tee!

What I Spent: $15 on a sharpie fabric marker pack.

I painted over the scratches on each shoe with leather paint in a matching color. After the paint dried, I applied clear acrylic sealant.

• Metallic Leather is a Labor of Love: I learned the hard way that the metallic foil layer atop my favorite leather boots, flats, and bags, is very delicate and can easily be scratched off. Additionally, this problem cannot be solved with shoe polish. The solution is metallic leather paint. So I laid some newspaper down on my dining table and spent a lovely afternoon carefully painting over scuff marks and fading. I could not be more thrilled with the results!

What I Spent: $5 per jar of paint, $7 for acrylic sealant, $2 for paintbrush

‘Pink Britney’ charm is made by @daintyprairie and ‘Red Daisy’ charm is made by @feriswheelarts.

• Turns out upcycling your old jewelry is fun: Jewelry is not immune to fashion trends unfortunately. I had a few necklaces hanging out in my jewelry box, unworn and unloved for some time. Instead of discarding them, I decided to rework them with some secondhand charms, finishing materials, and free advice from my local bead bazaar.

What I Spent: ~$10 at my local bead and craft shop for wire, crimp beads, and jump rings.

• Learning how to darn sweaters is satisfying: I watched a youtube video and got to work on a hole-y cardigan sweater I bought secondhand last year. My darning is imperfectly charming and I’m proud enough of my first attempts to continue wearing this sweater at home on zoom calls (the pattern helps hide irregularities). Practice makes progress!

What I Spent: $0 as I already had embroidery floss and sewing needles lying around :)

I used a bottle of Rit dye to transform a faded grey shirt into a more vibrant black version.

• Don’t like your shirt? Dye it a different color: I decided to update a beloved faded gray long sleeve tee to a classic black staple. I followed the instructions on the bottle for an easy-peasy transformation.

What I Spent: $3 on a bottle of rit dye.

Thanks for following along on my mending journey! It felt both financially and spiritually rewarding (I only spent about $45 on clothes I already had as opposed to buying more/new). I would rate the projects I successfully tackled as ‘easy’ or ‘medium’ difficulty. I am going to continue to challenge myself with more/difficult mends in the months ahead and attempt to fix some behind the scenes mistakes. Subscribe and stay tuned for part II with more mending novice innovation.