 In this episode of Make Time, we're going to be doing some visible mending, taking worn-out garments and giving them a repair with flair using basic craft materials. We're going to be doing public library and today we're going to be doing some visible mending. Now, what does that mean? Well, when you mend something, that means you're fixing it. And in our case, we're going to be fixing all of the wear and tear on our favorite clothes so that we can keep on wearing them. Where the visible part comes in is that we're not trying to disguise that our clothes have been mended. We're not trying to blend those repairs in and make them look new. Instead, we're using the wear and tear as an opportunity to make our clothes look more unique. On top of being a fun, creative way to get most of our clothes, it's also a great way to help the environment. The fashion industry is one of the biggest polluters in the world, and the longer we can wear the clothes we already have, the fewer clothes end up in landfills for things that we could easily fix. The skills I'm going to show you today are inspired by Japanese folk mending. Sashiko is a type of embroidery that uses tiny stitches to create complex patterns. Borough is using Sashiko to layer new fabric onto old over and over until it forms a unique quilt-like texture. I say inspired by because this video is going to be a lot more general than either of those methods, which both have a really fascinating history behind them. But if you find yourself really catching onto this, definitely go look them up. There's plenty of more stuff to learn. The idea is that with our stitches, we're going to weave new fabric over the damaged parts of our garment, not only to close up the hole, but to strengthen the surrounding fabric so that it doesn't tear again. With a small hole, you can do this with thread alone, but if your hole is big enough to stick fingers through, you may need to patch it up first. We're on this in a minute. The materials you'll need for this project are a hole to mend first off some thread Embroidery floss works best, but you could also use regular sewing thread or a thin yarn, if it's all you have on hand or even dental floss. But you're going to be wearing this so dental floss might not be the most comfortable option. It's great for repairs on the go though. A sewing needle that fits your thread and scissors or some other cutting implement. Optional but helpful materials are an embroidery hoop to hold your garment in place Additional fabric if your hole is large enough that you need to patch it up and pins to hold that patch in place. But before we start sewing, let's gather a little bit more information about our garment so that we can plan how best to mend it. The first thing we need to figure out is if our fabric is knit or woven. Knit fabrics are things like t-shirts and sweatshirts. They have a lot of stretch to them and the edges don't fray when cut. If you look closely at knit fabric, you'll be able to see little rows of V's going up and down. Woven fabrics are things like denim and button-up shirts. They stretch diagonally, but you'll always reach a point where you can't stretch them anymore. Woven fabric frays like crazy, especially when the fabric is thin. And if you look closely at woven fabric, you'll be able to see a criss-cross of threads running perpendicular to each other. You can mend garments of either fabric type, but it's good to know what you're up against. If your fabric is woven, you're going to want to make sure you nip any fraying in the bud. And if your garment is knit, like mine, you'll want to take care that your stitches don't impede the fabric's natural stretch. And if you need to use a patch, make sure your patch fabric is the same type as your garment fabric. Once you know what type of fabric you're working with, the next step is to try your garment on. Where is the hole located? Is it at a point that needs to bend a lot, like an elbow? Somewhere that gets a lot of wear, like the bottom of a pocket? Or did you just snag it on something? These clues can tell us how best to mend our garment. A hole that got worn down over time will need a lot more reinforcement than a random hole that just appeared in the middle of your shirt. We also want to look at what seams are nearby, as these are good, strong places to anchor our stitches to. Now that we know more about our garment, it's good to sit down and think about what we want the final product to look like. If you have different colors of thread, plan out which ones you want to use. Do you want your stitches to conform to the shape of the seams? Or do you want to introduce new patterns, zigzags, starbursts, squiggles? Sketch out your ideas, doodle, brainstorm, treat this like an art project because it is. And now that we have our supplies and our plan, we can finally get started sewing. We're going to start by putting our garment into our embroidery hoop. Just separate the two hoops, put one on the backside of your garment and one on the front, fit them together, and screw them in place. If you don't have a hoop, that's okay. You'll just have to make sure that you're holding your fabric flat as you sew. For woven fabric, stretch it as tight as you can make it. For knit, we want it tight enough that it's not being bunched up, but not so tight that you're distorting the fabric. It should have a little bit of give. Next, we're going to cut our thread. You want it long enough that you're not having to re-thread every two seconds, but not long enough to get tangles and un-wieldy as you sew. Generally, from your fingertip to your elbow is a good guideline. If you're using a embroidery floss, you can separate the threads into two or three ply strings. The thinner the thread, the more delicate your stitches will look, but the longer your mending will take. Keep that in mind if you're using regular sewing thread, which is only one ply. We're going to thread the needle. Knots aren't very comfortable to wear, and with the stitch we're using, we want to start a little bit away, where the fabric hasn't been damp enough sturdy it is. Even though my hole is relatively, start somewhere that isn't as transparent. If your hole is big enough that you need to patch it, pin your patch fabric in place before you sew on the back side of the fabric. The front works too, but I think the back is prettier. It's an artistic choice. You'll still follow all the same steps, but your first line of stitching will be around the hole, rather than over it, to secure the patch in place. Begin your stitch on the back side of the fabric. Stick your needle through, and pull your thread almost all the way through to the front side. Leave an inch or so on the back side, enough to hold onto. This is called your tail, and you can trim it off later. Now on the front side, go back down through the fabric, maybe an eighth of an inch away from where you came up. Make sure you're holding onto your tail to avoid pulling the stitch out entirely, and pull it tight. On the back side again, go up through the original hole, or as near to it as you can get, and pull this stitch tight. We're going to do that one more time, going over the same stitches, down through the front side, and up through the back side, pulling tight each time. You should be able to pull now without having to hold onto your tail. This is called a back stitch. It's very sturdy and good for keeping your fabric in place, so use it in places where you need structure, like anchoring your thread without tying a knot. But it's kind of time consuming and definitely thread consuming, so for most of our mending, we're going to be using something called a running stitch. So we're on the front side of our fabric, going from the anchor back stitch towards the hole we want to mend. With the tip of the needle, we're going to go down through the fabric about an eighth of an inch. But, instead of pulling our needle all the way through to the back side, we're just going to push right back up through to the front side to make a tiny little stitch. You can do this two or three times until you run out of space on your needle, and then pull the whole thing through in one motion. See how that made a few stitches at once without us having to switch back and forth between the front and back of our project? That's the beauty of the running stitch. Continue with the running stitch until you reach the hole. Now, once you reach your hole, you might be thinking, oh, of course! Emily just taught me that a back stitch is the strongest type of stitch, so we're going to back stitch over the hole. We'll get really strong. Now, I applaud your forward thinking, but that's not what we're going to do. Instead, we're just going to gently running stitch over our hole, trying to make sure there's a stitch on either side of it. You can pull a little bit tighter on this stitch to try and nudge the hole closed, but you really don't want to put too much tension on fabric that's on running stitching until you get to a sturdy place on the other side of the hole, like where you're sewing double with a thread that's looped through your needle, just nudge your needle a little closer to the tail you're grouping. And if your needle ever falls off, you can always re-thread it, since we aren't using any knots. When you get to your anchor point on the other side, stitch down to the back side of your garment, and we're just going to do another back stitch here. Then, still on the back, make a stitch about an eighth of an inch to the side, and push up to the front. Another back stitch, and you're good to do another row. Try to keep your stitches small. The smaller they are, the more integrated they'll be with the fabric, and the less likely they are to get pulled out. That said, making small, even stitches takes practice, so don't worry if you can't get it right away. Keep track of how much thread you have when you reach the end of a row. You'll want at least three inches to tie off with, and it's better to waste a little bit of thread than it is to run out in the middle of a row. When you're ready to tie off, do another back stitch, and be sure to make this one extra strong. Then, stitch down to the back side. Indicular to the back stitch we just made, and slide it under that stitch. This will act like a knot without having to tie a knot. Do this once or twice, and then you're done. Slip off your needle, trim your ends, and then cut some more thread and start again. With these basics down, you can just keep on going until your garment is mended to your liking. It's a great thing to do to keep your hands busy while you're watching TV or listening to music. No project is ever really finished, but that's kind of the beauty of it. You can just keep going, and over time your mending will build into something beautiful. You can keep your stitches going up and down, side to side, or you could experiment with different angles, different patterns, whatever you like. If you mess up, or if you aren't happy with your work, simply unpick your stitches or cut your thread and try again. Try different colors if you have them, or different waves of thread. Try adding beads, or interesting scraps of fabric. Try embroidering pictures of things, fish, flowers, whatever speaks to you. This is your garment, and there's no wrong way to do it, so long as you like what you're making. Let's check out what some of the other people at the library have made to really get inspired. I'm going to show my visual mending. Some of the holes in my denim jacket, and I'm going to continue to use the same technique to fill in some of these other areas. Can't wait to see what you guys do with it. Hi, I'm Richard, and this is a t-shirt that I fixed using the visual mending technique. So I had three little holes at the front of the shirt, and I decided to connect them all with this winding snake design. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and I'm excited to fix more of my clothes with this method. Hey all, Christy from the studio here. So this denim jacket is super, super messed up. People who've known me for a long time will probably recognize this jean jacket, and I am weirdly proud of all the holes that have developed through years of wear, but I also can't wear it anymore, and I wish I could. So here's just a sample of my work in progress. I'm liking how this green thread is looking against the denim, and I'm just getting started. Clearly it's a big project and I have a long way to go, and I'm excited to give this jacket some love and fill it with color and personality. Thanks for learning how to mend with me today, everyone. I hope we all are feeling super inspired to take something old and worn and turn it into something new and awesome. If you had fun here today, consider checking out some of the other videos that the Long Beach Public Library is making, and we'll see you again soon on the next Make Time.