ÉCRITOIRE (Page 3)

This holiday season I’ve started working on shifting to wrapping gifts with reusable materials — besides reducing waste and being less of a strain on the environment, I think there is also an opportunity for them to be more special and reflective of the things we care about! On that note, I spent some time today making these little gift tags — the one on the right’s inspired by this wonderful tutorial by Swoodson Says. They were so fun to make and I can add to my collection over time!

This is possibly the most specialized garment I own now??

I have Raynaud’s, a circulatory condition that affects my fingers when it’s cold. Last winter I had a hard time reading in bed at night (it’s Maine, lol). Since winter is approaching again, I thought about how to solve this problem and this is what I came up with: a pair of thermal gloves with the right hand modified to allow me to turn pages without sacrificing necessary protection from the cold. I’m not totally done with them (I’d like to make them less pink and more rainbow) but they’re functionally ready to go and they worked really well in a test run!

Here’s how the glove looked originally:

I’ve been doing this repair job on my partner’s favorite coat off and on for a few months and I think I’ve got all the holes now. This parka is 20+ years old and 100% cotton, and the fibers have become so soft and fragile with age, I know it will continue to be an ongoing labor of love. That’s one of the things I love so much about mending — seeing pieces continue to change the longer they are loved and used.  

I’m finally beginning a major mending project on this beloved hoodie I’ve been wearing for ~20 years. The fabric has become transparent in many places, the zipper is broken, the grommets are tearing away… I’m not only looking forward to being able to put this piece back in my regular rotation, but excited about the process of caring for it through extensive repair!

Here’s a before/after showing what a huge difference the new flannel lining is making:

It’s pretty significant! Obviously it will also be much warmer. This is a great project to sit and do on the couch watching a tv show too. I’m putting the lining in piece by piece, which is a little finicky, but once basted it goes much faster. I decided to do all the non-structural stitching intuitively, changing techniques based on my mood or what shapes it feels like my fingers want to stitch right now.

From this horrendous mess…

and this nonfunctional lunchbox…

to this well-stocked, organized mending kit! It’s amazing how much more pleasant my supplies are to use when I’m actually able to find what I’m looking for. Not pictured: my darning egg, currently in use 🙂

This soft handle is stuffed with tiny scraps of fabric, yarn, and sewing thread — I love finding ways to reuse materials that would normally be thrown away! It’s a huge upgrade from the plastic manufactured handle, which I couldn’t even fit my hand in. 

I don’t know when this even happened, but I found this sneaky little bite in one of my dog’s sweaters. Who could have done this! 🤔 It gave me a chance to try some Swiss darning — I think I need to redo a few stitches but am pretty satisfied overall…

Here’s what it looks like tidied up:

I’ve been working on repairing this old cotton parka. The technique I used here was inspired by mendingmayhem‘s wonderful Making Zen workshop! This part is patched from the inside, repairing a shredded lining. The entire coat needs attention and is giving me loads of opportunities to practice different mending techniques. It’s a very enjoyable ongoing project!

Several years ago I accidentally got some epoxy on this Betty White shirt while making a batch of ceramic magnets — the sensory aspect of it creeped me out so much (crunchy!!) that I stopped wearing the shirt altogether. I just found it in a stack of old textiles and had an epiphany! Since I already felt it was unwearable, why not just cut the crunchy spots out and patch them up? So I did, and I am happy to report that this project turned the whole garment around immediately. Problem solved 🙂

I’m so happy with how these came out! These headphones have been good to me, but the pleather started cracking and peeling off a while ago as it’s wont to do. I can’t stand that! So I decided to do something about it. I picked a couple of scraps with a lot of stretch from my fabric stash and sewed them right on the peeling headphone band. So much more enjoyable to use now!!

My front door looks so naked! I made a wreath for the holidays, but its best days are long behind it now, and I want some color for springtime! Luckily we still had a ton of grapevine cuttings from last fall — I decided to soak them and see how many wreath forms I can get out of them. The first bathtub batch yielded a wreath and a half. (Not bad!) I’ve still got plenty more to soak but also I’m having fun thinking about how to style them. I’m thinking moss? Stay tuned…