When Antoine, a reader like you, showed us how he mended his jeans and suggested we write an article about it, we obviously said yes. Don't hesitate to share your own work with us. Christophe.
Do you have a relic in your closet? A pair of old, completely ruined jeans that you no longer wear because they have a tear in the knees, but whose cut and patina are enough to put a smile back on your face. Like an old friend that you no longer dare to take out but that you are not going to throw away.
I suggest you have a little fun by giving it a second life. , drawing inspiration from Japanese boro and sashiko techniques.
A few seconds of history...
I am by no means an expert on this subject, so my definitions are very brief. In rural Japan until the early 20th century, cotton was scarce. Thus, women regularly patched or reinforced damaged clothing.
Boro is a patchwork technique that can be compared to patchwork.
Sashiko is an embroidery technique that can be used to simply embellish pieces but also to repair or reinforce them.
A very, very patched traditional garment – Photo ref. Gerrie Congdon / Heddels
The aesthetic interest is that a patchwork of indigo-dyed cotton pieces sewn together with more or less white threads will give off an obvious harmony of colors. It is very easy to match with other basic pieces, denim, chambray, t-shirt and white or ecru sneakers.
We therefore avoid the clown effect that often goes with patchwork, while adding a big personality to a piece. Hence the interest of certain creators for these techniques, with fairly inaccessible products at Visvim , or a concept declined on other color ranges at Maharishi .
A Visvim jacket... slightly out of budget for me
And a M65 Maharishi with the dots clearly visible
For your viewing pleasure, I recommend the themes “ r/Sashiko ” and “ r/VisibleMending ” on Reddit.
…and a few hours of work
Here's an idea of what a complete novice (yours truly) can achieve with a few hours of work, a pair of well-worn jeans and a few euros of materials.
The result is imperfect, marked by my own mistakes and experiments, but I enjoy wearing these jeans again, my first raw, bought in 2013 just after reading the book BonneGueule, and patinated according to the rules of the art. And then, I admit that I found this repair time particularly enjoyable.
How to get started?
1. On the hardware level, you need:
-
An embroidery needle , so a fairly large and long needle, with a large eye (the eye of the needle) because the thread is thick.
Some needles are super sharp, some are rounded, I've tried both, the rounded one is harder to prick but will hurt your fingers less. -
White embroidery thread , or better, ecru. A stranded cotton works very well.
This time I tested two different wires with prices ranging from single to double, and I recommend you take the best wire possible. . The difference is really noticeable, and a skein of thread costs about two euros so don't skimp here. One skein is enough for a coin or two. - Basic thread with a fine needle for threading.
- Pieces of indigo-dyed fabric , if possible not too thick. You will struggle if you repair a large selvedge canvas with a canvas of the same thickness. A fine chambray or twill will suffice. Ask in store, they sometimes have small pieces sold at low prices .
- Dressmaker's pins .
- A tailor's chalk if you want very regular patterns
- Pinking shears if you have them, to prevent the edges from fraying.
- A thimble
My basic McGyver of denim kit.
In short, you should get by for less than ten euros. Or discover hidden resources in the sewing box. And something to occupy your long winter evenings of confinement.
Preparation is everything. That’s an important lesson in sewing. Good preparation saves you a lot of hassle. It starts with a little thought about your project. .
Do you want to see the patches visible in front of the denim or hidden (so you only see the seams, except at the tear)? You can experiment with different compositions and layering for your patches, knowing one thing: if your jeans have torn in one place, the fabric is probably weakened across the entire area. So patch wide.
Here is the second knee. The tear is where the two pieces overlap. I have clearly identified the perimeter.
I had started my work on my jeans by repairing one knee. After an hour of work, I put my jeans back on, sat down... and the canvas cracked three centimeters above the repair. So on the second knee I was very broad from the start.
You will also choose the embroidery pattern, the simplest being a cross pattern. With your scissors, cut your yoke(s) to the right size. If you want to mark reference points for a straight pattern, make a 5mm grid on the piece with your tailor's chalk.
On the jeans, cleanly cut off any loose threads in and around the tear. Then iron your jeans with the patch on, which makes it easier to put on. If you put the patch behind the denim, turn the pants inside out. Otherwise, leave them right side out.
You can put your piece in place, holding it in place first with pins. Start by holding it around the tear, this will prevent it from making a "pocket". About ten pins should be enough, be careful not to prick the back of the leg. Check that the result suits you and remains as flat as possible.
To make your life easier and save your fingers, you will replace these pins with a basting thread. Just take your polyester thread and go around the piece and the hole with a wide forward stitch. The purpose of the basting thread is just to hold the piece in place, you will remove it at the end.
Here is a piece laid with the basting thread, note the extra stitches around the tear.
When you are happy with the result, you can start embroidering.
2. Let's start embroidery
Sashiko decorative embroidery is usually done in a fine fabric, by pushing the thread onto the needle. Several stitches are made in a row.
In our case with denim and thick thread it is much more difficult, so I recommend you to do only one stitch at a time. Try to be as regular as possible.
Start with a length of thread between 1 meter and 1.5 meters. Pass your thread through the eye of the needle, leaving 5 centimeters sticking out. To block the thread at the start, you will start your first line by going backwards on three points (1,2,3 below), then you come back to the front. Start with a line in the middle, follow the chalk line and off you go.
This is what you should see on the inside of the jeans (I stitched a scrap to show you, so there is no reinforcement piece)
This is what it looks like from the outside.
If you make a mistake, stay calm: you can always go back, freeing the needle and removing the misplaced part of the thread.
Move steadily, as long as your stitches are straight, aligned and evenly spaced, you will be fine. Even though your stitches may be different lengths, it is the order of the whole that will make the beauty of the work, not the perfection of each element. A very Japanese philosophy, right?
You will also realize this when you see that at some point something happens: your stitches, even irregular ones, make a pattern appear, and it is very gratifying.
3. The reasons
There are many patterns in Japanese tradition, often geometric, sometimes complex.
Personally I find the cross pattern already very pleasant, start there to get your hand in before tackling something more difficult.
The basic pattern, staggered crosses. Personal drawing.
You can also alternate with a blue thread on every other horizontal line if you are playful.
The same pattern, bigoted Malabar version.
The delicate persimmon flower
For my part, I wanted to be clever with a "persimmon flower" pattern and I got a little lost in my calculations... hence an incomplete pattern on my right leg.
When I realized I had messed up a bit, I chose not to extend the pattern across the entire piece...it works quite well overall.
This is what it should have looked like in reality.
The very beautiful persimmon flower pattern, in theory
As I like to understand from my mistakes I dissected this famous pattern, here is a summary diagram with in white the lines that alternate, in red those that repeat. We therefore have three alternating lines (in white) then two identical ones (in red) and we start again.
Here's how it works. The lines stay the same and it's just the offsets that create these flowers, with a center that alternates between squares and crosses. Cool, right?
The triple sashiko effect
This type of visible repair will give your jeans a lot of character and make them a unique piece , which you will enjoy wearing because you did it yourself, thus prolonging this very special relationship that you have woven over time and patina.
It is obviously a virtuous approach on an ecological and economic level, but also a learning experience for you. Knowledge gained that questions the need to replace... and which highlights your own potential to repair and give new life.
Finally, and this you will only discover by doing it: sashiko is a time-consuming activity that brings a rather astonishing state of relaxation. Like other traditional Japanese arts, it induces a very pleasant form of active meditation.
You might want to go even further and add pieces to your clothes for fun, like Max_vdau , who was a source of motivation for my modest work:
Max's cool Edwin jacket, tastefully patched up
I hope I have lit a flame in you, and made you want, from one of your old clothes, to create, to express yourself and above all to have fun!
Come on, a fitpic for the road...
