I’m pleased to let you all know that I will be running a Creative Mending workshop at The New Craftsmen, on 22 July, as part of their summer exhibition Animal, Vegetable, Mineral – a joyful celebration of new talents and new pieces.
A Tom of Holland workshop in full swing
I started working with The New Craftsmen last year, and as a result I’ve been involved in some pretty exciting things, such as Makers House, in collaboration with Burberry, and A Home For All, in collaboration with Selfridges.
The New Craftsmen curates, commissions and sells unique contemporary objects that are rooted in craftsmanship and narrative. Spanning furniture, lighting, textiles, gifts, ceramics and decorative accessories, our range is made by a growing network of over 100 makers across the British Isles.
The Creative Mending workshop at The New Craftsmen will be informed by some of the pieces I made for the summer exhibition; Sue Parker, the stylist behind the exhibition, asked me to visibly mend three boilersuits, which will be for sale:
Boilersuit with braided belt (VMP09)
Besides a few holes, which I repaired with classic darns, he first boilersuit also had a broken zipper, which presented me with an exciting challenge: how do I visibly mend a broken closure? After removing the zipper I tried out a few things, but ended up using a braid as a belt. The seam allowance that was exposed after removing the zipper has been stitched down with small stitches, echoing the zipper teeth.
Detail showing the stitches, reminiscent of the zipper teeth. Each boilersuit has a serial number stitched in
Boilersuit with oversewn patches (VMP10)
The second boilersuit had some paint stains, rather than holes, and here I used hand-dyed fabrics that were stained during the dyeing process. Instead of stitching them over the paint stains, I placed them in each others’ vicinity, thus reinforcing the presence of stains on the various fabrics.
Stains of various kinds reinforce each other’s presence; the patches are inserted using the oversewn patching technique
The third boilersuit had paint stains, missing buttons, a fraying cuff, and some busted armhole seams.
Backview of boilersuit with patched cuff, boro-inspired decorations, and replaced buttons (VMP11)
All the stitching and repairing on this boilersuit used a hand-dyed silk thread, which was a dream to sew with. In addition to repairing the busted seams and sewing on new buttons, I really wanted to try out some boro-inspired techniques, where the simple running stitches create a ripple effect in the fabric.
Boro-inspired patches; the silk patch in particular shimmers as a result of the ripple effect of the simple running stitches
I turned accidental paint stains into acts of intention by outlining them with small back stitches.
Turning accidental paint stains into intentional decorations by outlining them in back stitch
As you can see, the three boilersuits each have a different focus in their repairs, and highlight in one way or another what needed repairing. Another thing it highlights is the question: when does something require a repair? One of the boilersuits had merely some paint stains, and in this case, the repair wasn’t something that was broken, but more about how you would be able to wear this garment.
This Creative Mending workshop at The New Craftsmen will not purely focus on technique: not only will I teach you some simple repair techniques through making a small repair sampler, but I also look much forward to having a conversation around visible and creative mending with everybody.
All images by The New Craftsmen, and used with their kind permission
Hello Tom. I am having such fun reading about your mending experiments. I learned a lot of these from my mother and grandmother, who did them of necessity.
Well, so did I at first, then my mother gave me a book about creative quilting that incorporated many eastern and western mending techniques. I fell in love with the process, and since then (years ago) when I do mending I take the old techniques a step or two further, incorporating more color and leaving the edges raw, running stitches every which way. My children have picked up this kind of mending too, and in my grandchildren’s generation, it is a fashion statement (at least for now). It is fun.
I am a spinner, and am getting back into weaving again, with visions of weaving “patches” in, the way old time tailors did, only visibly. I use to emroider mends on my kids’ clothes and recently have felt a strong urge to pick that up again, too- I want to use my own randomly hand-spun and dyed silk threads for texture.
Sorry no pics, I didn’t think of that! I was just having fun. Will try to do a project soon with photos to share.
Thank you for sharing your story.
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