Mending is to sewing like using leftovers is to baking.

Most people can bake or create a meal by following a recipe but often you need to have a good understanding of the underlying principles of cooking and meal preparation to be able to creatively and effectively use leftovers or random ingredients.  The same applies to sewing.  It is one thing to follow the instructions on a pattern to make an item but sometimes you need to use your understanding of some of the methods to apply it to mending tasks.

Today I was confronted with a pair of The Duke’s business trousers that had worn through right on the crease of the hem.  I do not know how this happened as the trousers are the correct length and do not drag on the ground.  It is difficult to see but the area just to the right of my thumb is a split.  It is more obvious in the following photograph.

I unpicked a section of the hem.

The damage is clearly evident.  I trimmed the couple of loose threads.  I placed a piece of iron-on interfacing over the split on the wrong side.  I made sure that the two edges of the split were closely aligned and then ironed the interfacing to seal it.  With the sewing machine set on a short zigzag stitch, I stitched over the split.

This is the wrong side after I had stitched it.

Then it was a simple matter of rehemming the section of the hem which had been unpicked.  I have not posted the ‘after’ photo as the mend is virtually invisible.

Do you mend clothes?  If you have any mending questions please ask and I will see if I can help.