30 Times People Mended Their Ruined Things Very Visibly And Only Made Them Cooler (New Pics)

When I was little, my grandma used to darn the socks for our entire family. Granted, she was the one who knit them in the first place, but she was also the one who would repair them when there would be nothing but big holes left in the heels. Back when she was growing up, there was no such thing as fast fashion. Even suggesting to throw the socks out would've seemed incredibly wasteful.

Luckily, it seems that mending is coming back in style. Patrick Grant, the host of The Great British Sewing Bee, told The Guardian that people are getting tired of the fast fashion industry and looking for alternatives. "I think this trend has been growing for several years now and I think it's largely been driven by our desire to consume less and throw less away for environmental reasons."

The wish to be more eco-friendly is one of the reasons artist and author Katrina Rodabaugh turned to mending as well. "I love so many things about mending clothes!" she tells Bored Panda. "Mostly, it repairs the textile and puts it back into rotation and prolongs its usefulness. It's better for the environment if I'm able to wear my clothes for as long as possible and reduce waste."

However, there's the crafting aspect as well. "I also love that it allows for experimentation with simple design elements like color, line, and scale," Katrina says. "I love that it's calming, centering, and quiet. And I love that it lets me practice basic stitching and patching—a micro session of crafting in a full day."

When you're a beginner at mending and have never done a stitch in your life, it can be hard to navigate the world of crafts. Especially if you're trying to be more sustainable and friendly to the environment; knowing what tools and materials to choose for mending matters. You wouldn't want to go for a polyester or nylon thread when your goal is to reduce the use of synthetic fibers.

Katrina says that you don't need much to start mending. "Most of my mending materials are quite simple—thread, needle, yarn, patches, scissors, thimble, and a ruler," she tells us. "I love that the tools are not highly specialized and are common enough that most folks can access them easily."

When it comes to fibers, Katrina prefers to go natural. "I opt for biodegradable fibers like cotton, linen, and wool to reduce my use of synthetics, whenever possible." She recommends using castoff clothes or remnant fabrics when you're making patches. That works really well for mending woven garments like denim.

And what about fixing knitted or crocheted garments? "If I'm darning knits, it's great fun to plant-dye tiny skeins of wool yarn to use for special mending projects—though leftover yarn from knitting projects is great too." People can either use store-bought natural plant dye extracts or experiment with homemade options like coffee, black tea, or onion skins.

If this list inspired you to try visible mending, Katrina has some useful tips about where to start. "Try to match the fiber of the textile you're mending with the fiber in the patch and thread," she recommends. "If you're mending mid-weight denim jeans, try to use a mid-weight denim patch and mid-weight cotton thread. If you're darning a bulky sweater, use bulky yarn."

A mistake many beginners can make is to use a patch the size of the hole they're mending. Katrina points out that the patch or darn should always be bigger than the hole or fray. "It needs to attach to the undamaged part of the textile so make the repair bigger than the hole. You can always practice your stitches on a fabric scrap to help warm up."

Nobody's born an expert, so don't get upset when you fail. There's no superglue in mending; you can always fix a mistake. "Remember that they are just stitches and you can take them out and start over if you like," Katrina says. "The more you stitch, the more you'll get comfortable with your stitches, like handwriting. Mend things and have fun!"

Have you ever attempted visible mending, Pandas? Let us know how it went! If you get inspired by this list, don't hesitate to share your experiences with fellow Pandas in the comments as well. And if you're looking for more cool pics from the r/VisibleMending subreddit, check out our previous articles about them here and here!