It's official! I've found a new alternative to hoarding! Yipee!!!
Boro rag art patches to mend your clothes! Available here
photo via Hoarder Rehab
I've taken interest in mending my clothes for over a year now, but in the beginning I wasn't quite sure where it would take me. I started with my favorite pair of jeans and instantly was amused with watching my mending and patching disintegrate and the first time I mended the jeans, the mend lasted a whole half hour and busted even a bigger rip!
I laughed so hard and went straight back to trying again! Here is the "before" photo when I was modeling some of my Aunt's furs. Thankfully all her furs have found new lives and homes, thanks to Etsy!
BEFORE: Notice the ripped jeans! HA! Nice free air conditioning!
The mink collar cashmere sweater found a new life in Australia!
So these are my favorite jeans, which I call my eating pants because I need the belt to hold them up and they are low riders and I can eat all I want with them on!
Here is how I fixed them the third or fourth time:
Oh wow, so I've been mending these since 2013, that's 3 years now!
I've repaired these countless times in the same area and many other areas. These have stitching over stitching and probably have a back patch by now. I started embroidering the dates on my patches so I could see how long they actually last. This one says, Frankenstein, 2012. It must have been around Halloween time 2012!
Here is the back side of the mend with some patching. Sometimes I find the back mending side much more interesting than the front, so this month my mends
have been "backward or inside out" mends, which means I put the patch on the front side.
I've also been mending my favorite white gauze summer shirt for years too, but it's very difficult to take photos of the mends. I started embroidering my favorite quotes on it and the dates too.
This shirt is so holey that every time I patch a hole another one instantly reappears! Every time I wash it becomes holier than holey!
I've been making patches with some boro rag cloth I have tons of just to see what happens to it as I mend and patch. Lately I've been working on my camouflage summer shorts. Someone gave me these and they are so big that I never wear them in public, just around the house or to garden and they are falling apart now!
These mends are difficult to see, but I just use whatever I have on hand, so as you can see, I used a sturdy t-shirt label with washing instructions because that hole I've mended and patched up so many times! Let's see how long it holds with that label on it now. The other mend is in turquoise below the label and there is another one that runs along the bottom of the pocket on the left that's been mended with pink thread.
Above is the backside of the "inside out" purple patching and in the back I patched another with the falling flowers patch. Sometimes I can't decide which way the patch should go and since no one but me ever really sees these shorts, now I just put them any way just to see what happens.
This is an experimental patch, I didn't use much stitching to mend the rip. Just the turquoise embroidery thread and it's dated April 13, 2016. I'll see how long this one holds.
Here is different falling flowers patch I used on another rip and this time I experimented by mending the rip closed first from the inside of the shorts. Then I stitched around the border to attach the patch and lastly I free styled the quote, "The Earth listens to those who listen" to see how well a quote will do to hold it down and it has the date, but I can't read it from the photo.
I haven't washed these shorts since the mending, but I have worn them and not one patch ripped yet, but I did discover some holes that need to be patched up!
I've also been mending my favorite super old "comfy" socks, but those are really kinda ugly. I used them more as slippers around the house because the socks are so big on me, so big I can't wear them with shoes.
All the boro rag patches I made recently to experiment on all my favorite clothes, but the Curly Hair Sun Goddess I made so long ago, she's vintage now!
Boro rag art patches to mend your clothes! Available here
More details about size and how I use them are on the listing
photo via Hoarder Rehab
Saying Goodbye: I won't be letting these clothes go anytime soon because they are my favorites! Plus I wonder what they will look like when every square inch is covered in mends and patches!
All the boro rag patches I made recently
to experiment on all my favorite clothes, but the Curly Hair Sun
Goddess I made so long ago, she's vintage now!
Boro rag art patches to mend your clothes! Available here
More details about size and how I use them are on the listing
photo via Hoarder Rehab
What I Learned:
1. One of the biggest reasons why I've been mending my clothes rather than buying new ones is that it's becoming very difficult to find affordable 100% cotton clothes.
I'm allergic to most synthetic fabrics and most cotton poly blends. I'm not sure what some of the new clothes has been treated and/or scented with, but I've bought some and have had to wash them so many times just to be able to wear them without an allergic reaction. The clothing doesn't even look half new anymore and having a reaction can take days for me to recover.
So lately it just hasn't been worth having an allergic reaction to trying on new clothes at stores.
2. The biggest factor is I really enjoy mending my clothes and end up in a timeless world just mending and patching away. Time passes without a thought of hoarding, shopping, dehoarding or even eating! And I'm such a snack eater! And love to eat, hence my "eating" pants and shorts!
3. It's probably an odd way to spend time, mending, patching and dating such old ripped up falling a part clothing, but I'm just happy to have found something so timeless that I don't even think about what I'm going to "buy" next! Collect next or window shop for!
I can't remember much about making this patch, but do remember it took me some time to applique and embroider in the scribbling hair! She has been made with very tiny stitches! I think I was experimenting with self portraits for a family quilt. My mom would send an blank square to every family member with a theme and they we'd mail it back to her and she'd make it into a quilt for a family member's birthday or anniversary or other milestone celebration. Available here
photo via Hoarder Rehab
I'm still getting used to the new shop format that Etsy
rolled out
on April 5th. I am having such issues missing the old format and my patience is at an all time low!
It takes me twice as long to get anything done now on Etsy and it's taking away from my mending and blogging time! I'm still trying to figure out how to rearrange my shop items without the renewed listing ending up all the way in the back, instead of the front. It's
just not as easy to rearrange as it used to be. I need a manual! Better
yet, lessons!
Click on the shop names to visit new hoard listed daily and/or weekly: HoarderRehab with 194 items, The Destiny of Things- 188 items, VintageToGoEasy - 193 items and JunkDrawerAndMore - 193 items
Maybe you'll find something to adopt and share your story too! Thanks for looking!
Here's an experimental patch I put on a t shirt to see if the vintage darning thread and vintage red embroidery thread was going to color run with a machine wash. So happy it didn't, as seen in the photo. I first made the patch with just lines and scribbles, then patched it to the t shirt sewing along the border and tacked it on by coloring in the some of the spaces with red embroidery floss.
This x-small to small upcycled patched up t shirt is available here
photo via JunkDrawerAndMore
Related Stories:
Last year for Mother's day, I made a lot of these boro rag patch badge pin brooches for my mom and aunts and gave them the ones that reminded me of them most. My aunt loves Mexican folk art, so she got the one with the milagro leg. I forgot to take a photo of the one that went to my mom and other aunts.Some of these have sold on Etsy, but a few are still available here
and the shamrock one is available here
photo via Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things
I've gone way over my blog time, but it's been fun. Time to go package today's orders! Thank you for stopping by and taking part in my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things! See you tomorrow!
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