Mending

To mend (verb used with object): to make (something broken, worn, torn, or otherwise damaged) whole, sound, or usable by repairing

Even though I'm often sewing new things out of new fabric, which can be fun and exciting, I think it's important to spend time mending the things we already own. It may not feel glamorous to have a pile of clothing in want of a button or needing a seam restitched or a pocket hole repaired, but it saves so much. It saves the item of clothing from the trash heap, it saves money, not having to replace something that has use left, and it saves us the time we spend shopping for the right thing to replace what we lose. I also find it humbling to repair the old instead of running out to grab the next new thing off the shelf without much thought to the life cycle of these items and how their life cycles affect future generations.

Today I mended clothing, most of them needing small repairs, one by hand, four on my machine. It took little time really. One was my husband's favorite pair of sweatpants from college (they've seen repairs in prior years!). Another was a good work shirt that cost a surprising amount of money. Then there were the leather gloves, sweater, buttons and a patch for my daughter's clothes. Each one a simple fix that I was glad to do, even though I'd put it off for a few weeks.

I hope you use your sewing talents for mending too when the occasion presents. What a worthy use of time to take something broken and make it whole and usable again.