Visible mending with basket darning and Aurifloss

How long does it take you to dive into a new sewing technique? Asking for a friend – ha! I’ve had a collection of sweaters piling up that needed some mending, and I finally got around to it the other day. Today, I wanted to share a little bit more about the process of my first foray into visible mending with Aurifloss.

Here’s what’s covered in today’s post:

• Why Choose Visible Mending?
• The Materials: Basket Darning and Aurifloss
• Step-by-step Process for Basket Darning a Sweater
• Exploring Other Types of Visible Mending
• Why I Love Visible Mending
• Reflections: Embracing Sustainability Through Crafting

Let’s dive in!

This post contains affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission.

Why Choose Visible Mending?

There’re a few reasons why visible mending appeals to me, and I thought I’d cover those in case you’re wondering what brought me down this path. I could, after all, head out and buy myself a new sweater.

Sustainability: you know how I love incorporating sustainability in my quilting practice, that’s where most of my improv stems from (read more on that here), and repairing garments instead of discarding them supports that sustainability ethos and reduces waste.

Creative Expression: Plus, you know how much I love stitch work, and I loved the idea that visible mending allows for personalization and turns repairs into a work of art.

Economic Benefits: I’m all for stretching my investments and saving money while making use of materials on hand. I know you have thread at home, too – ha!

Saves a Fave: While I could technically go out and buy myself a new sweater, I can’t buy this specific one. And since it was gifted to me back when I was living in Japan, it holds special meaning to me (aka irreplaceable). Mending the holes means I get to extend the life of my favourite sweater!

Modern quilting at its core is essentially taking something old and making it new again, making visible mending a natural extension/fit.

The Materials: Basket Darning and Aurifloss

During my research, I discovered that mending is a whole new world in itself, with so many directions to go in and techniques to explore. I’ll be honest and say it was a little overwhelming. Definitely felt like a newbie and got flashbacks to how I felt when I first started quilting (aka overwhelmed – ha!).

Instead of getting lost in all the details and feeling too overwhelmed, I brought it back to the basics: I needed my sweater fixed. When I envisioned the mending in my head, I saw visible stitchwork.

So, intending to keep it as simple as possible, I focused on visible mending using basket darning. It seemed the easiest with the tools I had on hand and aligned the most with the end results I was after. It also felt the most approachable 😊

• What is Basket Darning: You might be wondering what is basket darning. It’s essentially a weaving technique used to cover a hole. It can be used for repairing holes in socks and sweaters. Other types of darning can mimic the knit stitch or patch it over. I liked the idea of having the threads woven into the garment while still being visible for an added personal touch. The weaving technique reinforces the garment and repairs the sweater just by using some thread!
• Aurifloss: Normally you’d use a wool yarn for basket darning a wool sweater, but I didn’t have any on hand. After searching my thread stash I found some Aurifloss and thought the chunky fluffy fibers would be a great alternative. The cotton strands are strong, and the colours coordinate beautifully with my sweater. The fact that I already had it on hand means I’m not buying even more supplies making it eco-friendly.

Materials Required

Here’s a round-up of all the notions I used to visibly mend my striped wool sweater:

• Sweater needing mending – mine is a Gap orange/pink striped wool sweater that I’ve had for over 20 years
• Yarn needle
• Aurifloss in pink
• Aurifloss in orange
• Darning Egg  – mine is vintage, but you can find similar ones here. Alternatively, you could also use a hoop, an orange, or the bottom of a small jar)
• Thimble
• Embroidery scissors

That’s it! Love when a project has a short list of materials 😊

Step-by-Step Process for Basket Darning a Sweater

Since this was my first go, I didn’t take any photos of the actual steps, but here are the steps I took to mend my sweater.

Assess the Damage:

Before getting started, I first took the time to launder my sweater. This actually made one of the holes a little bigger, so I leave it up to you if you want to pre-launder your garment or not. After inspecting the sweater, I noted two holes. One larger one located on the front body and another smaller one on the left sleeve.

Preparing the Yarn and Needle:

You’d typically match your thread type to your project, but I didn’t have a lick of yarn on hand, so I pulled out my thread selection to see what I could work with. I have quite a bit of thread, so I had a few options on that front – ha! In the end, I opted for Aurifloss as I wanted my thread to have a little extra weight for sturdiness and to fill in the gap nicely. Once you have your thread selected, you’ll then need to gather your essential notions, including a needle, thimble, a pair of scissors, and a darning egg.

Starting the Darn:

To get started, all you need to do is thread your needle and insert the needle about an inch away from where you want your stitches to start. Be sure to leave yourself a long tail as you won’t be knotting your thread but rather weaving the tails in at the end for a nice seamless finish.

Weaving the Basket Darn:

Once you have your needle set up, you want to start weaving your needle through every other yarn loop. When you get to a spot that has no yarn to pass through, then simply leave a straight stitch. Continue this woven pattern first one way, then double back on yourself, until you’ve covered the entire area that needs to be filled in. You can extend your weaving well beyond your hole for a more prominent effect.

After you’ve woven your thread in one direction, you can switch thread colours (or stick with the same one), rotate your project 90 degrees and repeat this process going in the opposite direction. This woven pattern will patch the hole.

Be mindful that you’re not pulling your stitches too tight. Managing your stitch tension will ensure that your weave isn’t too tight or too loose. It’s a fine balance, but with practice you’ll get a feel for the tension required for your project.

Finishing Up:

To secure your thread ends, simply weave those into your basket weave going the opposite direction from where you started the stitches. This way, you won’t have any knots interfering with the feel of your darning. It will be nice and smooth and seamless.

Care Tips:

The basket darning technique is quite secure, so I plan on laundering my sweater as I normally do. But if you’re concerned, you can always hand wash your garment. The key is to avoid any type of high heat which has a tendency of shrinking things.

Exploring Other Types of Visible Mending

Before I dove in, I did a little research, and by research, I mean a good ol’ Google search 😉 This brought me to a series of blog posts and YouTube videos. In the end, this is what I summarized my visible mending options to be:

• Swiss Darning/ Replicate Stitch – this is where you match/replicate the stitches of the project.
• Basket Darning/Weave – where you weave the thread into your project, either with visible or invisible stitches.
• Embroidery – using decorative embroidery stitches to fix/cover the damage.
• Patching – this involves adding a piece of material either behind or in front of the hole and using thread to stitch it in place.
• Needle Felting – involves felting the wool to fill in the hole.
• Crochet – using crochet stitches to fix the hole.

Why I Love Visible Mending

The final results of the visible mending are super cute. A little wabi-sabi, but you know I’m here for that. My approach will no doubt get better with more practice, but it’s opened my eyes to new possibilities for my wardrobe in the years to come.

It was lovely to just sit quietly on the sofa and weave my thread through the yarn. It was super relaxing and encouraged me to get into a meditative rhythm.

Seeing the stitches actually sparks joy! It’s fun to see the details that I’ve added in making it even more unique to me.

I shared my capsule wardrobe philosophy with you in this post that I tend to focus on quality over quantity, and if I can extend my favourite pieces even longer, then I’m all for it!

Reflections: Embracing Sustainability Through Crafting

With over 60 billion garments being thrown away every year, I’m hoping to do my part to not add to that waste. The crafting culture brings a fun way to incorporate sustainability and help us prevent additional waste.

If you haven’t tried visible mending, then I encourage you to give it a go. The process is quicker than I anticipated, and it’s super satisfying to see your garment come back to life with fun art details.

Even my hubz mentioned how the stitchwork added cute details particularly the fix on the front of the sweater which he said reminded him of a stitched logo!

Here are a few resources that you might want to check out if you’re curious about diving further into visible mending:

• Mending Matters: Stitch, Patch, and Repair Your Favourite Denim and More
• Mending Life: A Handbook for Repairs Clothes
• Visible Mending: Repair, Renew, Reuse the Clothes You Love
• Beyond Darning: Creative Mending Techniques

Be sure to tag me @shannonfraserdesigns on Instagram so I can see your fixes 😊

Aside from some Sashiko patchwork mending I did on a pair of denim overalls; this is the only item that I’ve attempted to visibly mend and certainly won’t be the last. In fact, I already snuck in mending a cotton cardigan, but with invisible mending as I didn’t want the stitchwork to show. The same technique just matched the thread to the project. Worked like a charm!

I’m curious, have you tried your hand at visible mending? I’d love to know which approach you used and whether you caught the mending bug too?!

Happy stitching

xo

Shannon

---

Never miss a post – sign up for the weekly newsletter.

This post uses affiliate links. For more info, visit the FAQ page.