This blog post is devoted to my experiments with mending and patching. The stimulus is an early precursor of the denim jacket, seen below. This is an 1850s woman's jacket that I found in the collection of the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum in New York. The jacket was repaired in several places.
'Inktense' illustration of jacket copied from photograph in FIT
Museum collection
Portion of the rear view showing three repairs
According to McClendon (2016) who has written about the history of
denim using the items from the FIT collection, the type of circular
repair used on this jacket was a method widely employed at the
time. The rectangular patch is held in place with stitching and
then the edges of the hole are turned under in a curved shape and
stitched into place. These are careful repairs and suggest the
item was valuable and worth preserving.
highlight from FIT image 1850s woman's jacket
First of all, I tried creating 'mends' using card.
Although it worked, it wasn't very appealing visually, partially
because of the bland colours of the card and also because it is hard
to discern the layered structure of the repair from the
photograph. Indeed they look more like stickers than
patches.
So instead I tried copying the style of mending using some linen
scraps as below. It was much more satisfying in terms
of a clear relationship with the stimulus material and prompted me to think of
other ways that I could develop the idea
visually.
Linen with patch in the same fabric
I experimented with using multiple layers of fabric, patching
blue denim and using red yarn to mark the perimeter running stitch
which holds the patches:
Red corduroy fabric, and linen patched into blue denim
using blanket stitch and running stitch in Shetland type
lambswool.
These experiments encouraged me to look for other, unusual
types of patch. I found the idea of weaving denim seams on
Pinterest. This was particularly interesting as the seam
construction of jean-style is an area I have been exploring.
I was rather short on denim seam so the patch is smaller than I
would've preferred. Furthermore, by trying to reveal the
whole, bulky patch (naturally rectangular) through a rounded
shaped whole, I am left with a rather messy edge. However, I
am really pleased with the overall visual effect both in the woven
element and in the contrast of colours.
I realised afterwards that the weave in the red cloth was an
interesting echo of the weave in the patch and I should've taken
more care in aligning them.
Woven denim seams patched into red, cotton, upholstery
fabric
My searches for mending ideas also led to an interesting
indigo-dyed patch in Luhanko (2018) - below - which I used as the stimulus for a
further mending idea:
Striped cotton fabric patched into linen using a
straight stitch in white wool
This is a fairly close copy of the stimulus patch from
Luhanko which was designed as practical repair rather than a
work of textile art. Consequently, it is fairly simple
and practicable. On the other hand, I find it visually
pleasing, possibly because of the stitching as decoration
unlike the original mend at the beginning of the
blog.
This idea of patch as decoration led me on to experimenting
with one or two other patches where the stitching added an
element of decoration to a practical mend. For
example, I created some slash holes in denim, patched them
and then held the patches in place with a sashiko pattern of
stitch.
Red cotton corduroy patched into denim with sashiko
pattern overstitch in wool
This was quite difficult to do and I learnt that I should
have marked out the sashiko pattern on the denim first as it
was difficult to create an even pattern to the stitches once
I had slashed and patched it.
Striped cotton fabric patched into linen and edged
with wool using Armenian Edging Stitch and Chevron
Half Stitch (Butler 1979)
This final sample, above, is a development from the last two
involving the striped fabric plus an element of decoration
created by an edging stitch. In order to experiment with
several edging stitches, I created four small patches.
However, I discovered whilst sewing that I needed to learn and
improve the stitching so I stuck to just two styles. I
also used the same thread as in my earlier sample for the sake
of continuity but found that the fairly fine white wool was not
very successful in displaying the intricacy of the edging
stitches which would have been improved by something slightly
thicker and stiffer. Two things learnt - practice on scrap
fabric first and test out the suitability of the thread!
References
|
| 'Inktense' illustration of jacket copied from photograph in FIT Museum collection |
|
|
| Portion of the rear view showing three repairs |
According to McClendon (2016) who has written about the history of
denim using the items from the FIT collection, the type of circular
repair used on this jacket was a method widely employed at the
time. The rectangular patch is held in place with stitching and
then the edges of the hole are turned under in a curved shape and
stitched into place. These are careful repairs and suggest the
item was valuable and worth preserving.
|
| highlight from FIT image 1850s woman's jacket |
First of all, I tried creating 'mends' using card.
Although it worked, it wasn't very appealing visually, partially
because of the bland colours of the card and also because it is hard
to discern the layered structure of the repair from the
photograph. Indeed they look more like stickers than
patches.
So instead I tried copying the style of mending using some linen
scraps as below. It was much more satisfying in terms
of a clear relationship with the stimulus material and prompted me to think of
other ways that I could develop the idea
visually.
|
|
Linen with patch in the same fabric |
I experimented with using multiple layers of fabric, patching
blue denim and using red yarn to mark the perimeter running stitch
which holds the patches:
|
| Red corduroy fabric, and linen patched into blue denim using blanket stitch and running stitch in Shetland type lambswool. |
These experiments encouraged me to look for other, unusual types of patch. I found the idea of weaving denim seams on Pinterest. This was particularly interesting as the seam construction of jean-style is an area I have been exploring. I was rather short on denim seam so the patch is smaller than I would've preferred. Furthermore, by trying to reveal the whole, bulky patch (naturally rectangular) through a rounded shaped whole, I am left with a rather messy edge. However, I am really pleased with the overall visual effect both in the woven element and in the contrast of colours.
I realised afterwards that the weave in the red cloth was an
interesting echo of the weave in the patch and I should've taken
more care in aligning them.
|
|
Woven denim seams patched into red, cotton, upholstery
fabric |
My searches for mending ideas also led to an interesting
indigo-dyed patch in Luhanko (2018) - below - which I used as the stimulus for a
further mending idea:
|
|
Striped cotton fabric patched into linen using a
straight stitch in white wool |
This is a fairly close copy of the stimulus patch from Luhanko which was designed as practical repair rather than a work of textile art. Consequently, it is fairly simple and practicable. On the other hand, I find it visually pleasing, possibly because of the stitching as decoration unlike the original mend at the beginning of the blog.
This idea of patch as decoration led me on to experimenting
with one or two other patches where the stitching added an
element of decoration to a practical mend. For
example, I created some slash holes in denim, patched them
and then held the patches in place with a sashiko pattern of
stitch.
|
|
Red cotton corduroy patched into denim with sashiko
pattern overstitch in wool |
|
| Striped cotton fabric patched into linen and edged with wool using Armenian Edging Stitch and Chevron Half Stitch (Butler 1979) |
References
Butler, A. (1979) The Batsford Encyclopaedia of embroidery stitches. London: B. T. Batsford
Luhanko, D (2018) indigo: cultivate, dye, create. London: Pavilion. Jeans patched with Japanese indigo-dyed fabric. p 121
McClendon, E. (2016) Denim: Fashion's Frontier. New Haven: Yale University Press
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