Tag: Darning

Counting on … day 64

16th May 2025

I was particularly struck by the ‘Darn It’ workshop offered by the Totnes Climate Hub. I don’t darn particularly well, but I do darn a lot of things – socks, jumpers, T-shirts etc. By making things last longer, I become less dependent on access to shops for new items.

Repair Cafes are another scheme that can increase local community resilience. 

Find a repair group

Counting on …. Day 17

17th January 2024

Mending – darning, patching, replacing buttons and zips etc – helps clothes remain wearable longer. Repairs can be done  – almost invisibly- or they can be made decorative and obvious. 

Sewing skills improve with practice so you might want to begin with replacing a button or sewing up a hem, before trying your hand at replacing a zip or turning a  shirt collar (taking off a worn collar, flipping it over and sewing it back, so that the worn side is now inside the fold). 

Here are some previous posts – https://greentau.org/tag/darning/

https://greentau.org/tag/repairs/

And try this for decorative mending – https://blog.seasaltcornwall.com/decorative-darning/

https://www.marthastewart.com/1535789/sashiko-japanese-art-mending-fabric-visible-stitches

And this too may be of  – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/16/what-have-i-gained-by-learning-to-sew-great-clothes-and-a-clear-conscience?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Counting on … day 1.129

3rd June 2023

Darning – and redarning – socks adds years to their life span. Having a darning mushroom – or other round wooded object is useful and stops you sewing two sides of the sock together. I use embroidery silks rather than darning wool (few socks nowadays are made of wool – and work a weaving stitch in both directions to either fill in a hole, or more often to reinforce an area of the sock that is wearing thin.
With an attractive colour, the darning can add to the character of the sock!