On mending

December 22, 2021

Yesterday was a mending day, and today will be as well. I only spend a couple of days a year mending and these are it.

I love mending.

Specifically, mending clothes.

And before you offer to send me your mending I will clarify further, I love mending my family’s clothes, immediate family. I can’t believe I have to get that specific, but if you knew my extended family and friends you would understand why I feel the need to get that specific.

Why do I love mending clothes?

The answer is in the details.

The first item I mended was a wonderful pair of red mittens I bought at a craft show back before we knew what a blessing it was to freely wander through such shows looking at the work of artists and finding a place in our lives for their pieces. The wonderful woman I bought these mittens from fashioned them from old sweaters and added a fleece liner. They are the warmest mittens I own. I usually only wear them when I am not working outside, but I must have worn them outside while working because the palm on one mitt was sliced. Yesterday I lovingly stitched the mitt back together. You can no longer see the imperfection unless you look very closely. I now love these mitts even more because I have invested time and effort into them so I can continue to enjoy wearing them.

The second item I mended was a dishtowel. I know that a dishtowel is not a piece of clothing and that most people would throw out a dishtowel with a hole in it, but we do not. Why? Because my husband’s aunt is in her 80s and continues to weave these dishtowels for family members. They are wonderfully absorbent, large dishtowels that we all value highly. Taking care of these wonderful pieces of her art is a privilege. And so yesterday I added a small piece of cloth to the back of the dishtowel and mended it.

The next three items I mended were all pairs of pants belonging to my son. They are brightly coloured and he loves them, and so when he asked if I could mend them for him I said I would. Today I will mend items for my father-in-law, my husband, and a couple more items for myself. It brings me joy to know that my service to my family allows us to keep items that we love and helps our Earth.

Choosing to mend something indicates we value it enough to do the work required to make it as close to whole again as we can. The imperfection is still there, but it has been made stronger so it can survive new challenges.

So, if I love mending our clothes so much, why do I resist being mended?

Well, my friends, that is a conversation for another day, my next blog in fact, because if I went there today you would never get back to what you were doing before you started
reading this post.

May you find joy in the details of your life, whether they be what you classify as work, worship or play!

Love Velvet

Living with More Joy everyday, even when mending!