When I visited Mindy Celeste this summer, I snagged my Icebreaker wool running tights on the pull-out metal frame of the sofa bed. My former way of fixing this would have been to patch it with a scrap of knit fabric. Now that I have a darning foot for my sewing machine, I darned it instead. The darning stitch is … Read more
I picked up this wonderfully soft cashmere sweater by Banana Republic last fall while going through the piles of stuff that local university students throw out when they move to new apartments. Besides being extravagantly comfortable, it is scandalously low cut. Maybe that’s why the previous owner threw it out. I decided to create a less revealing neck line by taking in … Read more
You may remember this awesomely damaged camisole from my post about Lilo, the Amazing Wool-Eating Cat. Draped over the shoulder is a folded sleeve I cut off from another shirt during this project. I bleached the fabric by setting it in a solution of 1 cup hydrogen peroxide, 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon washing soda, and a dash of detergent overnight until … Read more
How I mended a felted-wool Banana Republic cardigan sweater after my neurotic cat ate a chunk out of it. Same method works for dog- and moth-eaten sweaters. Read more …
Seven years ago, I found this adorable Smartwool shirt on Sierra Trading Post. I immediately fell in love with it and wore it all the time. This shirt has held up to a lot of use and even the occasional accidental wash in hot water. (Wool should always be washed in cold water to prevent shrinkage.) But even the most … Read more