I began writing this blog post yesterday, the 2nd; today’s the 3rd day of the new year. Mending Monday seeped into Tuesday- that’s how things go, Yesterday I got 2 projects ready and completed 2 more. Any progress is a win- last year I mostly neglected my workroom so it’s full of vintage clothing, textiles and other nifty old goods that need to be prepped & listed. I’m excited to begin working again so let’s get started!
FYI, Monday is the day I set aside to do repairs & mends. Since I ❤️ alliteration I could also schedule a weekly Fix-It Friday. Goodness knows there’s enough in my mending stack to keep that pace going for a year. But nah, once a week is plenty.
The first project is a vintage 30s or 40s baby crib coverlet that was never completed. The main fabric is some kind of old utility cotton fabric that has applique Scotty dogs wearing floral print trousers and hats. It still needs to be embroidered- without any contrast all the details just fade into the off-white background. Instead of my usual black embroidery thread I want to use dark brown pearl cotton thread AND of course that’s the one color I don’t have. Since my mind is made up, I’ll dash to a nearby quilt/fabric shop and get the thread later. Once I've finished the embroidery I’ll post pix on my Instagram account @retrogal51 which in turn posts to my Facebook business page @retromondevintage
The next project is a vintage laundry bag with a painted scene of a Chinese man and lanterns. It is probably from the same era as the coverlet, originally sold as a mail order item pre-painted and sewn, meant to be finished by a home sewer. One of the metal grommets had pulled out from the front leaving a hole with loose threads. I replaced the grommet but first added a piece of backing fabric for reenforcement. The fabric is held in place with tiny stitches so the grommet shouldn’t pull out again.
The next mend is on a pair of too-short Levis that I got at my favorite thrift store. They were already in poor condition but that was perfect since I planned to visibly mend them with embroidery and patches. But they’re too short. To fix that I found a length of tapestry ribbon in my sewing notion stash.I pre-shrank the tapestry ribbon and will sew it onto the jeans tomorro
After getting delayed on 2 of todays repairs I was ready to quit but remembered my gray wool cardigan with a thumb-size hole in the cuff. I used a strand each of dark gray and rust wool similar to the tweed specks in the wool. It worked well and ended up being an invisible mend.
Today I’ll finish the jeans, go to the store for supplies and start work on the crib quilt. It's a day late but oh well. And I'll definitely gather supplies this week for next weeks m!