Mends
1980s Williwear
This is one of my most favorite gone-vintage-in-my-closet frocks, a black cotton number by Willi Smith with a voluminous skirt and a mother of pearl buttoned... View full details
And Never Done
Principal victim of the great mothpocalypse of 2017 (husband's closet), this Scottish Geelong lambswool ribbed blue cardi is nearly all darn and is a right... View full details
Anglomania Punk
RIP Queen of Punk. I love my Vivienne Westwood early-90s sort-of-bondage dress, all asymmetrical in charcoal wool jersey with mysterious webbing straps that sort of... View full details
D&G Portholes
I wore this marled V-neck to death in the early-1990s, having scored it in the Dolce & Gabbana sample sale, then lost it for 20 years,... View full details
Darns on Pink
Only the world's softest oversized pink cashmere crewneck: it's by Miu Miu. The knit is pretty loose so it kept getting snagged and then holed. Darning... View full details
Dr Mend's Uniform
Dr Mend dispenses MENDication Rx in surgeries that are sometimes online, sometimes IRL. When this soft-soft, like, 8-ply ivory cashmere Donna Karan developed a hole... View full details
Exquisite Flower
Look at this! Well what do you expect from Karen Nicol? She is the best of the best, so this, her first deliberate Visible Mend,... View full details
Eye Eyelet
A classic Burberrys Argyle cardi with signature chrome buttons and I got it for a song because hole. Since I select things because of holes and... View full details
Frankensteined
The 70s patchwork sheepskin has not left my back since I got it in 2013 (except in summer), which accounts for why the seams--the many... View full details
French 30s Ribbon
The navy silk shantung on this pretty little jacket had split on both shoulders, exposing the padding (unlike 80s shoulderpads it's intrinsic to the garment). I had... View full details
Glow-in-Dark Dragon
A 6th-grade boy's favorite denim jacket had got holey and frayed in the back. Ambrosia got a hideous glow-in-the-dark heavy metal t-shirt I'd bought satirically for... View full details
Greasytee
As a fake grown up I find my fronts are continually spattered with dinner. The more I like a t shirt, the more likely it... View full details
H&L Collar & Cuffs
I am pleased as punch to announce that Hand & Lock, the 250-year-old embroidery maestri (the company not the sewers, duh) are now turning their Hands to Visible... View full details
H&L Dress Fix
Amazingly, Hand & Lock, the 250-year-old embroidery maestri (the company not the sewers, duh) are now turning their Hands to Visible Mending despite being way too grand! They are,... View full details
Hilarious Selfie Patch
Before there was Fast Fashion, there were cheapo stores on Broadway in Soho that now seem paragons of good practices: these pants are made-in-USA of good... View full details
Horsey Kaftan
My vintage kaftan was fraying and in danger of shredding. I underpatched it with a scrap of 1950s Western print cotton, stitched over the horse's... View full details
Iconic Pirate
The second amazing Karen Nicol VM, on a suitably rare and fabulous garment: the very collectible World's End 1981 Pirate Collection pant by Vivienne Westwood (when it would... View full details
John Bergermend
And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief As Photos by the great John Berger is among the best book titles of all time. So I thought I should... View full details
Margiela Legging
Yet another underpatch/ sashiko arrangement, this time protecting/embellishing the knee of a Maison Martin Margiela legging I love that had laddered because, honestly, this stuff... View full details
Mendstruation
This stripey cotton legging is not the only pant onto which I have inflicted awkwardly crotch-adjacent damage. But given their graphic pattern and close fitting nature, I thought these should... View full details
Messy Lace Appliqué
I got this angora mix cableknit sweater in about 1990 and it's nothing special, it's just: I love it. So the two holes had to... View full details
Mitts by Eva's Gran
These mitts belong to Eva Kittelsen: Norwegian fashion and textile designer, teacher, visible mender, and 2015 Det Store Symesterskapet finalist (that's The Great Norwegian Sewing... View full details
Moth-on-Moth
A lovely and costly Maison Martin Margiela Line 1 rust wool dress got chewed, those little bastards. So why not memorialize them in a thread... View full details
Multi Mended Pant
Some of my favorites insist on being really delicate, like these fine floaty silk pants that were fine for years but now keep trying to give up... View full details
Ooops America
It was the day after the epic Women's March and I was feeling bad about the (not so) United States. This cool 1970s black cotton... View full details
Posthumous Collab
This blanket is THE blanket, the one thrown over me in the car on make-the-baby-go-to-sleep-already drives, that came on every trip ever, and finally retired indoors... View full details
Ribbed Web on Cardi
Ribbed web stitch: it's one of those lovely detatched stitches you can stick over a hole, even one of reasonable size. First, here's a trio... View full details
Rough Crochet
This is crazy crochet, like crazy paving, since there was no pattern and I made it up as I went along. I had not picked up... View full details
Silk PJ Butt
I scored a bunch of lovely haberdashery in Japan and thought I should do something special, so addressed another old fave: this men's PJ pant gone-very-vintage-in-my-closet. It's another... View full details
Spiderweb Lamé
This top may be the only thing I ever bought at Heathrow, early 1990s. I paid too much and, since I bought it for an... View full details
Splodges of Color
I'd gone off this Alice & Olivia fringed slouch cardi but then was desperate to darn and this was all I had to hand. I needlewove somewhat... View full details
Terrible Hippie Mend
This ethnic number from the 1970s really doesn't have much life left in it, so I wasn't going to spend too much time on what might... View full details
Ungrateful Husband
How pleased was I when Scott requested some visible mending on his favorite Patagonia cashmere zip cardi? He'd been listening after all! I thought I'd do... View full details
Unsuccessful First VM
Well it's the first one I did that I still own. I was about 18 when this kingfisher blue silk shantung shirt started to split along... View full details
What (Blotchy)
I don't know where the maroon blotch came from but it's indelible and it annoyed me every time I wore this Alexander Herchkovitch top I love.... View full details
Wool & Chintz
I got this Golden Goose cardi (cult brand, made in Venice, very pricey) in a consigment place in a quaint market town in East Anglia, then promptly... View full details
Woolfilling Is SO Easy
Excuse me, this is not news to real crafters, but wool filling a.k.a. needle felting. What? The single easiest way to VM ever. And what fun!... View full details
Wrecked Missoni
They are made of that expensive slippery Missoni rayon jersey and I don't know how, but it laddered like a pair of nylons. A great candidate... View full details
You Gotta Have Faith
One of my oldest tees (a Loomstate organic cotton twisted seam number) had gone holey above the hem. So I backed the area with offcuts from... View full details