Mending – Kimberly

For this project, I decided to mend an old shirt that I used to wear a lot during early high school. I wanted to make it less plain by adding pops of color.

I first did darning on a pocket I cut out. My intention was too make it seamless and very close together but it didn’t quite turn out that way since the fabric was hard to maneuver and the pocket wasn’t flat. Additionally, I sewed through the back part of the pocket a couple times but it didn’t make too much of a difference.

But after looking at it longer, I quite like the jagged and uneven look as it brings more of that worn out feel to the shirt.

Originally, I did not notice the small black tears/stains on the right arm but when I saw them, I knew I wanted to embroider something over it. I used the yellow & orange + green to create a flower growing out of the side.

I really enjoyed embroidering the sleeve as a small detail and actually put a mason jar on the inside to prevent me from sewing through the other side. I did gather some of the fabric white doing the french knots which were extremely difficult because it was hard for me to hold the string taut and push the needle through since my arm would have to go through the sleeve.

The flowers remain hidden when my arm is bent since it is just at the elbow which is something I actually ended up really enjoying and so it adds an subtle touch to the shirt when revealed.