PML Public Events & Offerings

Visible Mending: A Learning Workshop In-Person

Extend the life of your clothing with creative mending! Learn how to repair holes & tears in
clothing by creating patches and using embroidery techniques to highlight the mend.

We’ll start with an overview of basic mending supplies, like choosing a fabric for the patch and selecting appropriate needle & thread types to suit the repair. We’ll then learn two techniques for repair - embroidery and patches. Through these two techniques, we’ll cover the basics of how to secure the hole/tear (so it doesn’t grow), how to cut and prepare a patch and how to sew it all together. We’ll also demonstrate 1-2 embroidery techniques to add some flair to the mend.

Things to bring:

1-2 items of clothing with a hole or tear that could use a mend (ex: jeans or pants, shirts, sweatshirts, denim jackets, pajamas, etc). Bringing a couple items will give you options
for which mends you’d like to try.
Optional: scissors for cutting fabric
Optional: fabric scraps for patches

Melissa Orellana learned to sew in middle school and has been sewing ever since. She loves hand stitching, vintage sewing patterns and making her own clothing. She lives with her family in Cumberland.