‘Some things are well-worn because they are well-loved’: Patching the world one sock at a time

Falling down the rabbit hole of ‘visible mending’ on Instagram, Christine Manby discovers the sustainable art of patching old clothes

Who knew that watching videos of people patching their jeans and darning the elbows of threadbare jumpers could be so inspiring? (Tom Ford)

It all began with a picture on Instagram of a colourful patch which a friend had sewn onto his trousers, accompanied by the hashtag #visiblemending. One click on that hashtag and I was obsessed. Who knew that watching videos of people patching their jeans and darning the elbows of threadbare jumpers could be so inspiring? Mending may be born of necessity but it doesn’t have to be about simply making something last a little longer. Each day, Instagrammers post new examples of #visiblemending that almost make one long for a hole to appear in the knee of one’s jeans. Patches become pictures, adding whimsy and joy to everyday items of clothing. They’re an opportunity to add colour and individuality to the ordinary. In one particularly skilful repair posted online, the rows of stitches resembled Van Gogh’s brushstrokes.

Mending clothes with pretty patches and exquisite embroidery belongs to the same tradition as “kintsugi”, the Japanese art of mending cracks in porcelain with lacquer dusted in gold or silver powder. There’s no hiding the cracks so kintsugi makes them a feature with the result that the mended object often looks even more beautiful than before. Of course there’s a Japanese name for patching your jeans in the most artistic way possible too. Welcome to the art of “sashiko”.