15 Jun 2018

Well, I'll be darned

From Afternoons, 1:38 pm on 15 June 2018

Finding a hole in your jersey or worse yet – in one of your favourite thick socks – is bad news at this time of year.

If you mend your own clothing (rather than replacing it) you'll not only be helping out the planet, you'll also value it more, says Bernadette Casey from Wellington textile company The Formary.

"You'll like [the clothes you already have] more because you've taken the time and effort to mend them."

Bernadette defines 'darning' as 'repairing clothes that you love' by reconnecting threads that have broken – "joining the garment back together, really".

She's running a workshop called The Art of Darning at Wellington's Nairn Street Cottage this weekend.

Bernadette says there's been a lot of interest in it because people are now more aware than ever of the stress excessive clothing manufacture is putting on the environment.

"It has a really significant impact on our carbon production, as a planet."

You can find out more about The Formary on their Facebook page.

If you're intimidated by the idea of sewing, Bernadette recommends 'cheats darning' in which a piece of raw wool is 'felted' into the hole in your garment with a felting needle.

Cheats darning looks something like this: