Mend and Repair

Shortening trousers or skirts is one of the most common alterations people need—whether you sew regularly or not. You might think it requires lots of skill or specialist equipment, but in fact, it can be done with just a few simple tools and a little practice. The first thing to look at is how the…

Shortening trousers is a very common alteration, and one you might need to do more often than others. Like many alterations, it can be done by hand with minimal equipment. When it comes to jeans, it’s nice to keep the original hem so they maintain their look. This tutorial shows exactly how to shorten jeans…

Sometimes the stitching on our garments comes undone, leaving a hole. Seams that endure extra pressure can break, or we might accidentally catch a thread and unravel the stitching. Without a sewing machine, it might seem impossible to mend—but you can make a perfectly reasonable repair by hand. What you need:

Sewing on a button is such a handy skill – it can take just a few minutes but means your garment is back in the wardrobe and ready to wear again. You’ll need: Thread your needle Position the button Start stitching Bring the needle up from the back of the fabric to the front, coming…

Tips for invisible mending In this blog post I am going to show the repair I made to one of my customers dresses. She works as a teacher in a school for children with special needs. She made this dress to wear to work. A child grabbed at her clothing resulting in the tear at…

How to re-hem a garment by hand. If a garment becomes damaged or stitching comes undone its easy to give up on that piece of clothing and either throw it away or give it to a charity shop. Either way it will be destined for landfill if it is damaged. In many cases garments can…