We're on winter break! Orders placed now won't ship until early January 2025. Buy a gift card ->
Your cart

What should I bring to the mending workshop?

Here is a list of tools and materials you'll need for our visible mending workshop +/or our mending meetups. 

Tools + Materials for repairing woven fabric:

  • Sharp, long needles
  • Straight pins or safety pins
  • Scissors
  • Thread: all-purpose sewing thread
  • Embroidery thread or Sashiko thread (optional)
  • Thread wax (optional)
  • Fabric for patches:
    • Patching fabric should ideally be similar in weight and thickness to the material you're repairing, ie. denim stretch with denim stretch, 100% cotton with 100% cotton, etc. 
    • You can cut up an old (unrepairable) shirt or cotton tea towel to use for patches.
  • These mending techniques are best use for repairing:
    • denim and twill pants
    • button down shirts
    • woven tops, pants, skirt, and dresses

      decorative stitches sewn over patch to repair the knee of a pair of pants

Tools + Materials for repairing knit fabric:

  • Long, dull needle. These are sometimes called yarn or tapestry needles.
  • Yarn to match in weight + material:
    • Use wool yarn to repair a wool sweater; cotton yarn for a cotton sweater, etc. Wool yarn can be used to repair a cashmere sweater.
  • Scissors
  • Darning mushroom or egg (optional)
  • Rubberband (optional)
  • Embroidery thread or Sashiko thread (if repairing cotton knits)
  • These mending techniques are best use for repairing:
    • socks
    • medium-chunky knit sweaters
  • Finely knit sweaters, jersey tops, and cotton lycra pants will be more challenging to repair
Knit darn repair on a sweater with grey yarn and two shades of pink on a sock

Want to learn how to repair woven and knit garments? Check out our current class offerings here.