#weaving mend

[wells-creative]

This was one of my first blue Jean mends. It wasn’t a really big hole but it was right on the inside seam so I wanted to fix it well.

I was experimenting with a woven type of patch and it worked pretty well but it was so dang tedious. I was using thin thread AND a really tight weaving pattern. I really screwed my eyes over in this mend because I had to use a magnifying glass light (like this one) to even finish.

Lesson learned. Sometimes it’s better just to see a patch to it even if it doesn’t look as cool. And a side note. I don’t even know where these pants are now (probably in my craft room with another hole)

Also I want to brag on this embroidery hoop. It is my go to for holding any sort of fabric while I sew. It has a raised ridge in the middle of the inside hoop and a matching slot on the outside hoop so they fit together really snug and it holds fabric so well. I had only ever used the cheap plastic ones with the little lip before I discovered this one and I will never buy those again.

[lexweaves]

Visible mending project after my kitty did a number on this chair.

[sunshineandrosesnoraincamemyway]

thinking today about how much I love literally all fiber arts. I am hopeless at almost every other kind of art, but as soon as there is thread, yarn, or string I can figure it out fairly quickly.

I learned how to knit when i was eight, started sewing at nine, my dad taught me rock climbing knots around that age, I figured out from a book how to make friendship bracelets, I've made my own drop spindle to make yarn with, and more recently I've picked up visible mending. I've learned embroidery through fixing my overalls, and this year I've learned how to darn and how to do sashiko (which I did for the first time today). After years of being unable to crochet I finally figured it out last night and made seven granny squares in just a few hours.

I want to learn every fiber art that I can. I want to quilt, I want to use a spinning wheel, I want to weave, I want to learn tatting, I want to learn how to weave a basket, I want to learn them all. If I could travel through time and meet anyone in the Bible, high on my list are the craftsmen who made the Tabernacle.

I want to travel the world and learn the fiber arts of every culture, from the gorgeous Mayan weaving in Guatemala, to the stunning batik of Java, to Kente in Ghana. I want to sit at the feet of experienced men and women and watch them do their craft expertly and learn from them.

Of every art form I've seen, it's fiber arts that tug most at my heartstrings.

[justalittlesolarpunk]

Ok solarpunks, help me out here. These are my favourite trousers, I’ve probably had them five, six years, maybe longer? They’re fraying on the thighs, as you can see. How do I, a person with a fine motor skills disability and zero handicrafts experience, go about mending this?

[things-from-strings]

i love this little darn on my pants, so i decided to scale it up 🩷💜💙

[polycraftory]

Jean mending complete! Gabe is very satisfied to have salvaged their most comfortable pair of jeans instead of having to get rid of them, and now they have a fun detail!

This embroidery/mending was done in a hoop with wash away stabilizer.

[librarychair]

This was my only pair of pants that fit me for a long time. It took my partner getting a full time job before I could afford to buy new ones. I mended them multiple times with the intention to keep it subtle and not advertise that I couldn't afford new clothes. But now that they're not my only pair, I can afford to get a bit creative with patches. These are pin loom squares that I sewed on. the last photo is the heart still on the loom, being embroidered because the woven-in heart wasn't obvious enough.

I sewed the patches on with sewing thread because it's less likely to further damage the fabric. I want these to be functional as well as extremely gay

[strangestfungi]

First little patch done! Definitely learned some things, finger crossed I don't make the same mistakes next time and have to cut the warp before doing a hemstitch. Overall I'm so happy with it!

[wells-creative]

We have this old purple fleece or felt (I have no clue what this thing is made of but I guarantee every middle class household in the 90s had one) blanket that we inherited from my mother in law when we moved into her house. It had some holes but it was still mostly together and it held no sentimental value so it was perfect for me to practice on.

I started doing a weaving type mend with some yarn I had laying around. This green yarn (Lion brand homespun) came in a lot I bought and the previous owner had cut it into short lengths (like 36”) for a project but had never finished. So it really wasn’t good for crochet but it was perfect to use for weaving.

I started with the green and then I was liking the earthy feel with the purple background so I just kept going with some crazy Pom Pom yarn I had a tiny bit of.

And that was looking like moss or fungi so I threw in some yellow.

Then threw in some brown to bring back the earthy feel.

I just kept going in different directions with different yarns until I had filled the hole. And I am so pleased with the result.

I adore the texture this Pom Pom yarn made. Sadly I don’t have any more and I can’t find it online to save my life.

On to another hole. Went for brown base threads (warp threads???) instead of the string I had been using. I have to get more pictures of how this one is turning out because I’m almost positive I’ve finished this hole but I put the blanket away for some reason.

These are some pictures of moss? lichen?? On a tree for inspo because this is what the weaving reminded me of.

[avianartistry]

These pants finally tore beyond my ability to mend some months ago, but it was fun to see just how many times I could patch these.

[siriscrafts]

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my blog! I'm a physics student, @siri-of-all-trades is my main/study blog, but on here I'm a crafter, knitter, artist and so on. I especially love learning new fiber arts, be it lace making or engineering new knitting patterns. I strive for sustainability, diy-ing and mending what I can using local materials.

My interests include:

Knitting

Lace making (tatting & bobbin)

Sewing

Pattern design (knitting, sewing, etc)

Weaving

Natural dyeing

House plants

Foraging, wild herbs

Baking and cooking

Cosplay/costuming (occasionally)

Drawing and painting

Embroidery

Miniature wood carving, apparently??

Jewelery making

Here are some examples of stuff I've made:

You're welcome to follow along and interact! My blog is a safe space, despite doing some traditional crafts I don't welcome TERFs or the like.

Here's more about me:

You can call me Siri! (She/her)

From Finland 🇫🇮

I'm doing my master's in physics, focusing on new energy technologies. I especially like solar cells!

I've been crafting since I was little!

I take up new crafts regularly as I come accross them. Since there's so many crafts already, some are just for one project. Knitting is probably the most stable one, since I can do that on lectures and there's always new techniques to learn.

[guardevoir]

Fiber....... something? update

Still didn't take photos for a Stash Update or the cool shawl I got (or the cool scarf I now also got) but I did use a pin loom to fix my mom's knit alpaca socks! so, here's a very un-aesthetic update for the day.

Didn't knit or spin the socks as such, because no, but the square things on the heels are 2-ply southdown patches spun and pin-loom-woven by yours truly.

(and yes, the holes were enormous. Mom does not touch sewing stuff, so these things were both walked through and unraveling, and most of the heel was just gone. I also don't know how to fix socks, but I'm reasonably confident in my ability to learn new shit, and I had the Crocheting Friend for troubleshooting. Incidentally, the size of the holes is why I patched and didn't try to darn, because the entire 3D structure was gone. Also I've tried darning before and hated it, so! Different approach this time, worked much better)

The patch on the right was spun up on a supported spindle real quick because my drop spindle is full of sparkle merino and I didn't bring my wheel to our craft afternoon (and it's also full of sparkle merino anyway). Afterward I realized that the Crocheting Friend still had (wheel-spun) southdown yarn I made a couple weeks ago, so I yoinked that back (with friendly permission since she had no current plans for it) and used it for the second patch.

I fixed the patches on the outside with sewing thread and a (very vertical) whip stitch, and then caught and secured all catchable loose knit stitches and then whip stitched the edges to the patch with left-over yarn (and a much more diagonal stitch).

The official order was "fix the holes please, no need to make it pretty", so the aesthetics were kind of ignored for this; I don't think it turned out too badly, though. I also managed to preserve the socks' elasticity by sewing the patches on diagonally.

[gr33nguys]

A recent mending project on a jacket. I decided to re-weave since the fabric surrounding the tear was fairly strong. Fixing your clothes is a great way to decrease consumption and waste!

[a-strawberry-mouse]

Does anyone know the proper way to repair a basket like this?

I was going to do a post on how I repaired it, only to find I currently can't fix it. Green wood won't dry at the same rate as the old wood. And soaking it risks issues every time, so I want to avoid doing that until I'm sure.

I have a couple of ideas:

❤️‍🩹 Leather strips instead of wood.

Pro: I can source leather scraps pretty easily.

Con: the leather will fail before the wood does.

-

❤️‍🩹 Try with old wood.

Pro: The wood should dry at the same/similar enough rate.

Con: I have to find a basket or other woven good that's in good enough shape that I can take wood from it, but poor enough shape that it can't be repaired.

❤️‍🩹 Wood glue it so it stops getting worse.

Pro: I have wood glue

Con: that would prevent any other possible repair in the future

❤️‍🩹 Carefully rivet a wooden board to the bottom.

Pro: this should be a long term fix

Con: it might crack sections and make it way, way worse.

❤️‍🩹 Use clamps to form green wood into the correct shape and then fight it into position mostly dry

Pro: I have the most of the materials to do this

Cons: everything else about this plan

It's very possible that this basket is too broken to fix, but I'm not giving up without trying.

[samtastic]

Kiss Me Kiss Me - 5 Seconds of Summer / La La La - Naughty Boy, Sam Smith / Shake, Shake, Shake - Bronze Radio Return / Why Why Why - Shawn Mendes / Please Please Please - Sabrina Carpenter / My My My! - Troye Sivan / Come On, Come On - Smash Mouth