Mending-DeLuna

I bought these pair of jeans on sale for $5. Probably my favorite purchase, and my favorite pair of jeans. I wore them almost every day of sophomore year, I stopped when small holes and frays appeared.

 

 

 

 

I approached mending these jeans in two different ways. For the fraying in the seat of the pants, I wanted it to blend in as much as possible. I added felt on the inside of the frays, for added strength, and did a satin stitch over that. I ended up liking how the satin stitch resembles keloid scars.

 

Regarding the rest of the frays on the jeans, I wanted my mending to be more noticeable. I was inspired by biological growths like cells, molds, and fungi. I looked at artists like Meg Rosko, Daniela Cermenati and Jennifer Lamontagne. I wanted the embroidery to look like it was growing on the jeans. It took a long time as I was approaching it the same way I do a painting. I didn’t plan much ahead, other than general shapes. Because of the lack of planning, this probably took longer than it could have. There were many times that I would do an entire section, and then remove it when I realized it didn’t actually work. I’m not used to working with a diverse color pallette. I usually limit myself to neutrals, or a pink/ blue combination. It’s not very colorful, but I consider this just a start. I intend to cover much more of the pants in embroidery in the future.

I also used this mending project to explore different ways of embroidering different textures. Most of these stitches are satin stitches. I also used french knots, the rose stitch, lazy daisy, and back stitches. I labeled the different stitches below. I wanted to create different textures and address space, with the stitches going in front and behind certain aspects of the jeans.