I live in Leeds, work in a charity-shop stockroom and repair clothes at a table that also has to serve dinner. My interest in mending began with a favorite pair of jeans and a refusal to replace them simply because one knee had given up. The repair was visible, a little crooked and completely useful.
Mend & Make is my collection of practical clothing notes: patches, buttons, worn seams and the small decisions that extend the life of something already loved. I enjoy color, honest workmanship and repair that look like the person wearing them. I am skeptical of any project that turns an ordinary household task into an expensive shopping list.
I write with humor because learning a manual skill can be frustrating enough without a solemn narrator. Off the sewing table I listen to music, visit secondhand stalls and keep a button tin that contains more stories than complete matching sets.
A stronger thread can still leave worn denim to tear beside it. Match thread size, stretch and stitch path to the cloth that remains, then test the mend where it moves.
The visible hole is often smaller than the weak fabric around it. A lasting patch has to reach sound cloth, suit the garment's movement, and secure the worn area between.
The jeans were not dead. One knee had developed a hole, which is a problem a knee experiences with impressive regularity. The rest of the garment was continuing its career perfectly well.
The button tin smells faintly of the biscuits it once contained, or perhaps I have invented that because I like the idea. It definitely rattles. Open it and you find four buttons that match, a
