Mend!: A Refashioning Manual and Manifesto - Paperback

by Kate Sekules (Author)

A hands-on manual and a history and celebration of clothes tending--and its remarkable resurgence as art form, political statement, and path to healing the planet.

"For Fans of NBC's Making It, Bravo's Project Runway, or shopping vintage: A sweater gets a hole? Sew it closed... Part history and part how-to, Mend traces the task's evolution from a 1950s chore to a DIY sustainability movement." --Marie Claire

For thousands of years, mending was a deep craft that has for too long been a secret history. But now it's back, bigger and better than ever. In this book Kate Sekules introduces the art of visible mending as part of an important movement to give fashion back its soul. Part manifesto, part how-to, MEND calls for bold new ways of keeping clothes and refreshing your style. Crammed with tips, fun facts, ravishing photography, and illustrated tutorials, MEND tells you exactly how to rescue and renew your wardrobe with flair and aplomb--and save money along the way.

Whether you've never owned a needle or are an aspiring professional, MEND gives you clear instruction and witty advice, with over thirty techniques, from classic darning and patching to cheeky new methods invented by Sekules, to help you turn every garment into a unique fashion statement. Including interviews with menders, shameful fashion industry facts, a ten-step closet mend, cheat sheets, stitch guides, moth elimination, museum conservator and vintage dealer tricks, and more, this is a book to inspire, delight, and galvanize. Sharp, funny, and incredibly timely, MEND leads the slow fashion revolution into its next phase, where getting dressed is a joyful, creative experience for all.

Author Biography

Kate Sekules is a writer, clothes historian, mender and mending educator. A leading light in the visible mending movement, she has shown her work and taught the techniques and history of repair in universities, museums, and symposia, including New York University, Parsons, the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Textile Arts Center, RISD Museum, Columbia University Chicago, the Costume Society of America, the Textile Society of America, and the UK Association of Dress Historians. Her writing has appeared in publications such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, The New Yorker, The Guardian, The New York Times, and academic journals. She is a PhD candidate in material culture at the Bard Graduate Center, New York; holds a masters degree in Costume Studies from NYU, and runs the Menders Directory on her website visiblemending.com. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.