Well Worn by Skye Pennant is a how-to book on visible mending, primarily with hand stitching. I was sent a copy by the publisher for review purposes, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it!
When do you use visible mending?
Visible mending is not really in my skill set, but it does come into its own when you have holes and worn-down areas. When the book arrived, I immediately thought to try out some of the techniques on my younger son’s favourite holey socks that were destined for textile recycling, and some joggers where I was about to sew up (not prettily) a hole in the knee by machine.
For myself, mending is not a frequent activity. Too many clothes syndrome I guess so not much gets worn out! When I do fix things it’s either for my husband, or my own clothes that need major surgery. Which calls for a sewing machine. Examples: replace a waistband. Add back the bottom section of a trouser leg that got stuck in the bike chain. Replace/adjust some elastic. Or I take it to the tailor to fix. A new lining and zip on a vintage leather jacket plus conditioning leather is not something I fancy doing myself!
What do you need?
As well as needle, thread, scissors, I used a doorknob (see cover image) and a hair tie as suggested to hold the fabric being mended into place. Because I knit socks, I also have a ton of sock wool sitting around which I used for this purpose. Extra handy: a lamp. I love my daylight lamp; I can literally feel my eyes deteriorating over time.
The big plus: book layout
Well Worn is helpfully laid out by common garment types. For each garment, there are demonstrations with different techniques to address various areas of repairs, such as elbows, heels, toes, knees, collars, underarms.
I enjoyed seeing the photos in the book of the before and after. It was also laid out in such a way that I could go directly to how to fix the toes on the socks. Rather than having to wade through pages of techniques to figure it out. Very intuitive and handy. And it was fun to look through all the different techniques and see what I wanted to try next!
Tutorials in Well Worn
I tried 3 of the mending techniques before writing this and had no problems following along. The illustrations were quite clear, the text was also ok if you examined it in detail. Though to be honest I would have liked more illustrations and less text. Or a YouTube link as a supplement would be really handy! As with learning knitting or sewing, if you’re a visual person a video is just much easier. The book is fine as it is, it just takes a bit more effort.
Like any how-to book, when you read in detail the steps, the actions are straightforward. But to get a good result it really takes practise. My outcomes – even the best one I did which was this sock – definitely look like they were done by an amateur and it took me the entire evening!! to do 5 bits of sewing. But I’m really happy to have found one technique in particular (honeycomb stitch, as you see above) that I used on the sock toes. This I’ll be using forever more.
Who is the target audience for Well Worn?
In my opinion, this book is interesting for people who are already interested in crafts or textiles. Which means: an excellent present to yourself dear reader. Or for a friend who likes sewing / knitting / crocheting / embroidery / weaving / quilting… and very important, make sure they like to do things by hand and not only machine. If you or they are not into hand sewing, there’s a strong possibility the book will land in a 2nd hand shop or be regifted real fast.
Given all the stuff about sustainable fashion in the intro, maybe the actual target market is people who are concerned about fast fashion but don’t sew. That could be one reason that the book is entirely about hand sewing. But if you are in the no-sew camp, caring for your clothes doesn’t mean that you want to DIY. And then it might go one of two ways … Well Worn will either inspire or become overwhelming. I feel like the book implies that you should probably know what to do with a needle and thread (just the basics – think sewing a button back on).
Final thoughts
As someone who enjoys a bit of hand sewing here and there, I did like Well Worn a lot and I’m happy to have it on my bookshelf for future reference. And long live the sock wool in my stash from knitting projects. Always happy for a handy supply of threads when the next bit of mending comes calling! PS. for more sustainability-themed blog posts I’ve written before click here.
Till next time
Kate