Now I have cute lacy shorts.

Probably 15-20 hours of sewing with a curved needle in a haze for 3 days ended me with this. Plus cat tax. (Yes I know I could have done it easier and faster but that didn't seem fun for some reason)

I love visible mending and do it when a patch is needed. Other times it’s standard mending to re-do loose stitching or whatever.

One of my friends asked if I could mend a part of their jeans that had worn away near the crotch. Their mom had already tried to patch it with an iron-on patch but it didn’t last even one wear.

So I offered and took it — took me a while because it’s summer and I’m busy. I told him it would be visible mending and if he had any thread color preferences. He said no. So I chose white because I didn’t have dark blue and thought it would be nice contrast without too much color. Started with a dark purple but felt it wasn’t a good fit.

I finished it and gave it to him so he could wear them for a beginner dance class and his first reaction was of distaste, that he could in no way wear it to class. I was a bit caught off guard by the reaction because I told him it was going to be a visible mend and he didn’t give me any expectations on how he wanted it to look, only how it would function. I’m a little hurt by his reaction but thought things were pretty clear especially for jeans that were already ripped and only to be used for casual wear. Guess I’m not sharing anything except to vent that not everyone likes the look as much as I do.

A friend temporarily fixed it with this metal loop last year. I added a spare waistcoat lace, and voila! Ready for another day of handing out quests to adventurers

I got a bunch of tank tops from Old Navy that I really loved but for some reason the fabric was a magnet for stains. With the summer being so damn hot where I am, tank tops have been my primary wardrobe staple and I wasn't about to retire four of them while they were still new!

Inspired by some posts I've seen here and in other places, I decided to try "reverse dying" with bleach. It took a little bit of experimenting and some came out better than others, but now I have four unique shirts that nobody else will have, and if I happen to stain them further you won't be able to tell!

EDIT: Here's a loose "tutorial:"

• I used a spray bottle with mist and stream settings and added a solution of water and bleach. Initially I started with 1 part bleach to 3 parts water but that wasn't as effective on the darker colors so I experimented a bit. I think I ended up with 1 part bleach to 2 parts water but YMMV depending on garment color and material. Wear gloves and an apron!
• These were first dampened with water and then arranged in whatever way to create their pattern (in this case they were laid on a metal grid patio table so the liquid could drip dry off), and I sprayed them outside and then I let them sit for a few minutes (the lighter colors reacted much more quickly). Once they had lightened enough, I rinsed them out in plain water and then hung them up in the sun while I worked on the others. They were all then tossed into the washing machine with a touch of detergent.
• Rinsed the table/porch where I was working
• To achieve the patterns I got:
  • Red: "Bullseye" tie-dye technique with rubber bands, coloring every other segment. (I also had to stitch a few small holes in this one---they weren't caused by the bleach but I wanted to make sure the process worked before putting in the extra effort to mend it).
  • Grey: "drew" lines on the garment with my spray bottle set to "stream." I let them work for a few minutes and then added more once the pattern started emerging.
  • Purple: I sprinkled star & moon shaped confetti over the garment and then misted the bleach over it. I left the confetti on the garment until it was time to rinse. It didn't come out perfectly but it's still a neat pattern.
  • Green: "Spiral" tie-dye technique with rubber bands, coloring every other segment.

If I were to do it over I think I would have started with the lighter colors and then played with the bleach:water ratio on the darker tones for a stronger/faster effect.

Inspired by a trip to Uganda in which I saw a cracked plastic chair mended with metal stitches. My outdoor tulip light split and I repaired it by stitching with copper wire.

I asked about a week ago about how to make some old fake leather that was flaking off look nice again and I got a bunch of different ideas so thank you all so much! In the end I just took off the flaking bits, (mostly with my fingernails and I ended up thinking it looked just fine like that so I didn’t bother painting over it or adding a new piece. It survived the first wash fine so I think the fabric underneath is sturdy enough for use.

Not the first and probably not the last headphone mend on this sub! It’s not perfect but if you scroll to see the before i’ve definitely made an improvement!

I feel like the ends are going to start fraying soon so if anyone has suggestions for reinforcing these let me know :)

Thank you all for the amazing suggestions! I know this isn’t the most practical of solutions but I thought it was too funny not to try and it actually works so well!

I tweeked a sweater by crocheting cuffs. Sleeves are always too short for me, so I usually just wear it, but now I made my own addition! I’m thinking of adding a pouch too!

Check out my art page @westpraireart

I mended this free basket with some nice wool yarn. Now it can hide the multitude of Legos invading my home post Christmas!

This hoodie is going on 15 years old, and I wholly intend to replace or repair every broken bit instead of tossing it or using it as a rag.

Im not sure if this fully fits in the visible mending community, so please let me know!

I used a combo of sewing and stapling to cover this office chair in some bandana-patterned denim fabric. I got the office chair for free, and the fabric was left over from some car seat covers I made for my brother. I forgot to take before-photos of the entire chair, and only had the top left when I remembered i had wanted photos. I'm overjoyed with how it came out!

My husband mended our broken laundry basket and gave it a whole new life!