Mending Matters by Katrina Rodabaugh

Mending Matters explores sewing on two levels: First, it includes more than 20 hands-on projects that showcase current trends in visible mending that are edgy, modern, and bold—but draw on traditional stitching. It does all this through just four very simple mending techniques: exterior patches, interior patches, slow stitches, darning, and weaving. In addition, the book addresses the way mending leads to a more mindful relationship to fashion and to overall well-being. In essays that accompany each how-to chapter, Katrina Rodabaugh explores mending as a metaphor for appreciating our own naturally flawed selves, and she examines the ways in which mending teaches us new skills, self-reliance, and confidence, all gained from making things with our own hands.

PRAISE

“I’m excited for Mending Matters and for Katrina’s work that offers new directions within the sustainable fashion community. It creates solutions, draws on handcraft heritage, and widens the opportunities to connect with Slow Fashion through simple stitching.”

— From the foreword by Natalie Chanin, Alabama Chanin

“Our clothes can have a long history, if we let them. Mending is a way of ensuring a longer life for the clothes we wear and maintaining our long relationship with them. Human hands should always be a part of the making of fashion and Mending Matters helps inspire that long story. Because #lovedclotheslast.”

— Fashion Revolution

“This book is a joy—I love how Katrina combines practicality and a lightness of touch with a deep understanding of the issues that drive the Slow Fashion movement. Her creative, considered, and beautiful approach to mending and making is exactly what we need in this moment of overconsumption and fading connections to our clothing and textiles. Thank you, Katrina, for helping rekindle our love affair with clothes built to last and hold memories.”

— Clare Press, Sustainability Editor at Large, Vogue Australia

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Katrina Rodabaugh is an award-winning artist and crafter working across disciplines to explore environmental and social issues through traditional craft technique. She lives in the Hudson Valley of New York.