{"product_id":"mend-isbn-9780143135005","title":"Mend!","description":"\u003cb\u003eA hands-on manual and a history and celebration of clothes tending--and its remarkable resurgence as art form, political statement, and path to healing the planet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“For Fans of NBC’s \u003ci\u003eMaking It\u003c\/i\u003e, Bravo’s \u003ci\u003eProject Runway\u003c\/i\u003e, or shopping vintage: A sweater gets a hole? Sew it closed... Part history and part how-to, \u003ci\u003eMend!\u003c\/i\u003e traces the task’s evolution from a 1950s chore to a DIY sustainability movement.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMarie Claire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor thousands of years, mending was a deep craft that has for too long been a secret history. But now it's back, bigger and better than ever. In this book Kate Sekules introduces the art of visible mending as part of an important movement to give fashion back its soul. Part manifesto, part how-to, \u003ci\u003eMEND!\u003c\/i\u003e calls for bold new ways of keeping clothes and refreshing your style. Crammed with tips, fun facts, ravishing photography, and illustrated tutorials, \u003ci\u003eMEND! \u003c\/i\u003etells you exactly how to rescue and renew your wardrobe with flair and aplomb--and save money along the way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhether you've never owned a needle or are an aspiring professional, \u003ci\u003eMEND!\u003c\/i\u003e gives you clear instruction and witty advice, with over thirty techniques, from classic darning and patching to cheeky new methods invented by Sekules, to help you turn every garment into a unique fashion statement. Including interviews with menders, shameful fashion industry facts, a ten-step closet mend, cheat sheets, stitch guides, moth elimination, museum conservator and vintage dealer tricks, and more, this is a book to inspire, delight, and galvanize. Sharp, funny, and incredibly timely, \u003ci\u003eMEND!\u003c\/i\u003e leads the slow fashion revolution into its next phase, where getting dressed is a joyful, creative  experience for all.\u003cb\u003ePraise for MEND!\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Sekules brings a refreshingly fierce voice to an assemblage of topics…A prim sewing guide this is not, and I am here for it. If you want sewing basics, Sekules does offer them, but along the way she will school you on where fashion has been and where it’s going (to the grave?).\" —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBookPage (\u003c\/i\u003estarred)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"As someone who does not know how to sew at all, I tend to shy away from any mending projects (hence the seamstress to whom I deliver damaged items for repair). But Sekules' book does a remarkable job at making me think I actually could do this myself – and even \u003ci\u003ewant\u003c\/i\u003e to try. A needle is less daunting than a sewing machine, and the diagrams in the book are so clear and simple that I am inspired to tackle my next holey t-shirt.\" \u003cb\u003e—Treehugger.com\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Both practical and political, with a directory of menders whose work Sekules reveres, \u003ci\u003eMend!\u003c\/i\u003e is a slow-fashion manifesto, a DIY manual and an argument for adding a little flair to any old garment--either by necessity or just because.\" \u003cb\u003e—Shelf Awareness\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eKate  Sekules \u003c\/b\u003eis a writer, clothes historian,  mender and mending educator. A  leading light in the visible mending  movement, she has shown her work  and taught the techniques and history  of repair in universities,  museums, and symposia, including New York  University, Parsons, the  Fashion Institute of Technology, the Textile  Arts Center, RISD Museum,  Columbia University Chicago, the Costume  Society of America, the Textile  Society of America, and the UK  Association of Dress Historians. Her  writing has appeared in  publications such as \u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHarper’s Bazaar\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe  New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e,  and academic journals.  She is a PhD candidate in material culture at  the Bard Graduate Center,  New York; holds a masters degree in  Costume Studies from NYU, and runs the Menders Directory on her website  visiblemending.com. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and  daughter.\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter One\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhat\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI did not invent visible mending— nobody did. For goodness’ sake, it’s been around forever. There’s been so much mending, always, throughout history, it is bound to show occasionally. When fabrics were costly and clothes were handmade, we all preserved them for years, even generations; we had no choice. Until the nineteenth century fabrics were handwoven, too— that is, after seed was planted and grown (or flock tended), harvested, processed and spun, maybe all by the same person. The linen cloth (see page 2) came into my possession complete with handwritten provenance that tells how Marie Elizabeth Damier grew the flax in Tiège, near Baden, in the late eighteenth century and how Irene Marie Vedder, fresh off the boat on Ellis Island, sewed it in 1918. This still happens routinely in remote, poor, or destabilized regions, and many a back- to- the- land textile artisan these days is experimenting with the old ways by choice. Farm to  table isn’t only a food term.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDuring the centuries when mending was not an aesthetic choice but a necessity, obvious repair was despised as a marker of poverty rather than valued and collected as artifact or fashion inspi-ration.  These  days,  fashion  is  quite  in  love  with imperfection   and   deconstruction   and   patch-ing.  It  has  loved  them  at  least  since  the  1970s, which happens to be when most home mending faded away. From the abomination that is mass-distressed  denim  at  the  low  end,  to  the  likes  of Alessandro Michele’s embellished Gucci gear in haute, fashion likes the look, but it can only sell us brand- new perfect imperfection; it can never produce  true  mending.  That  is  one  of  the  best things about VM. Decorative repair is intensely personal and artisanal. It is done by hand, ideally by  you,  or  at  least  someone  you  know.  It  is  not outsourced to factories. And the skills are easy to acquire: visible mending is for everyone, includ-ing  the  nonvisual  and  the  all-  thumbs  and  the sewing novice. It’s experimental stitchery, mend-ing improv, fun with thread, arty and exuberant and colorful and silly. The only way to go wrong is  to  say,  “I  can’t.”  It’s  a  craft,  but  of  a  modern cast, more art than Etsy. There are infinite ways to execute a VM, and there will never be another one  like  yours.  And  though  you  will  never  sew two  mends  the  same,  you  will  evolve  a  style  of your own— it’s as inevitable as handwriting (if you can remember how to do that).Generally,  visible  mending  encompasses a  rebellion  against  the  fashion  status  quo,  a refusal  to  dress  correctly,  and  thus  a  refusal to  further  line  the  pockets  of  a  few  over  rich, white male, conscience- free titans of industry.Personally, I prefer VM militantly unpretty \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand I often build in deliberate mess. If a mend ends up too professional, it simply looks shop-bought— and shop- bought usually means pro-duced in titanic factories in China, or, worse, in semiregulated probably dangerous smaller ones in Myanmar or Djibouti (or wherever labor is currently even cheaper than in notorious Ban-gladesh).  But  there  is  no  rule  that  a  VM  must be a statement or a mess. It truly is for everyone, and  you  will  even  find  hearts  and  flowers  in these  pages.  Also  plenty  of  rainbows;  no  uni-corns  though.  As  the  movement  grows,  there are menders of all stripes including stripes.No matter how you do it, VM comes with myriad  unsuspected  side  benefits.  So,  to  sum up  the  “What”  of  visible  mending,  see  the list on the right. Menditation, which happens when you apply attention and mindfulness, or mendfulness,  thus  manipulating  time,  is  my favorite,  though  the  feeling  of  security  that ensues  when  your  elbow  no  longer  protrudes from your old faithful sweater is not to be understated. I promise you will deeply under-stand and appreciate all ten by page 226.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Two\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhy\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eClearly, visible mending isn’t happening in a vacuum. Those who practice it tend to be evangelists for a world outside the fashion-industrial complex, advocates of civil disobedience, feminists, antiracists—in short, humanists. If you lavish time and attention on nonessential embellishment, adding extra layers to a task that wouldn’t occur to most people to attempt in the first place, you are not doing it just for eco- warrior cred— the more likely reason than frugality when replacing the thing costs less than breakfast— but as an opportunity. We personalize, extend the story, flag the beloved oldness, and render the item priceless— though not literally, because well- VM- ed garments can fetch a good resale price in my experience, and many modern menders who take commissions are quite unable to keep up with the demand.\u003cbr\u003eYou love clothes, or you wouldn’t be reading, but do you know where yours came from? I don’t mean Uniqlo or “stolen from my sister,” but their fundamental origins and what it all means. Clothes can be complicated creatures. They  are  not  inert,  but  become  unique  with wear, even from the first time we take them for  a  ride,  and  then  they  gain  in  individual-ity with each outing. Our collections become extensions of us (“That dress is so you!”), combining  in  their  own  special,  comforting  ways and  routinely  performing  magic  tricks.  One of  my  favorite  T-  shirts,  for  example,  a  1990s Loomstate  with  angel  wings  on  the  back (and  an  extensive  greasytee  mend—  see  page 190— on the front) has an identical twin that rarely leaves the shelf: it inexplicably leaves me cold. Many of us own a results dress or lucky socks  for  sports,  or  a  coat  that’s  gorgeous  on the  hanger  but  ghastly  when  worn.  Clothes “change our view of the world and the world’s view of us,” wrote Virginia Woolf. The “Why” of  visible  mending  is  all  about  that  personal nature  of  clothes—  oh,  let’s  not  mince  words, the  souls  of  clothes.  And,  while  extending their lives, it also acknowledges their origins.The  first  thing  the  organization  Fashion Revolution  did  when  it  formed,  after  more than   a   thousand   garment   workers   were crushed  to  death  in  the  Rana  Plaza  factory collapse,  was  ask  the  simple  question:  “Who made  my  clothes?”  As  well  as  a  handy  slogan,  this  question  is  a  deceptively  profound thought  experiment.  In  my  two  decades  as  a food  and  travel  journalist  I  reported  on  the dawning  and  spread  of  consciousness  about what  we  put  in  our  stomachs.  It  was  not  so long ago that terms such as \u003ci\u003efarm to table\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eclean eating\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003elocavore\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003emarket driven\u003c\/i\u003e were coined and  we  could  no  longer  automatically  detach the product from its origin.We need to do this with clothes.\u003cbr\u003e The term \u003ci\u003efast fashion\u003c\/i\u003e was first used in print by \u003ci\u003eThe New York  Times\u003c\/i\u003e in December 1989, evoking  its food  corollary  to  report  on  the  new  stores  in town,  including  The  Limited  and  Zara.  I  use the  more  sinister \u003ci\u003eBig  Fashion\u003c\/i\u003e. Though  there is  a  burgeoning \u003ci\u003eslow  fashion\u003c\/i\u003e movement,  the US fashion revolution was a bit muted at first. Partly  this  is  because  (a)  much  “eco-  fashion” produc ed in re sponse to t he issue s of t he indu s-try  is  not  tasty—  it’s  really  expensive  and  just not sexy, and (b) nobody likes to be scolded.\u003cbr\u003eIt’s all too human to shy away from apparently insoluble problems. The Gordian knot of issues  in  the  fashion  system  is  simply  too  de-pressing. We glance at the horrifying story of some  industry  abuse—  children  employed  by Nike, microfiber ocean pollution— then look down  at  our  performance  fiber  leggings  and the swoosh on our new sneakers, feel a stab of guilt, and head to the gym. Who can afford to dress  correctly?  Where  do  you  even  get  those clothes?  How  can  you  tell  what’s  been  made ethically?  What  difference  does  it  make  anyway? Just this little $12.99 sequined top.\u003cbr\u003eNeither  are  you  off  the  hook  if  you’re  a  designer  dresser,  not  once  you’ve  heard  the  indus-try’s not- so- secret that most luxury- label clothes are produced in the exact same factories as their cheaper  sisters,  and  those  factories  are  trashing the  planet  about  as  much  as  your  car  is.  It’s  all enough to make you run the other way— straight to your phone for some comfort shopping. Fashion isn’t meant to make us feel guilty, confused, and angry. We need fashion to make us feel \u003ci\u003egood\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Disclaimer\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eI  wrote  this  chapter  in  early  2019,  when  the fashion industry was already troubled. By No-vember, one \u003ci\u003eState of Fashion\u003c\/i\u003e report opened withthe words “Fashion leaders are not looking forward  to  2020.”  They  were,  it  said,  in  “a  state of  high  nervousness  and  uncertainty.” Then the  pandemic  hit.  Now  (early  April  2020)  I’m trying  to  future-  proof  a  chapter  about  what’s wrong with fashion, when fashion may by now (your  “now”)  have  already  expired. It  won’t have  been  a  peaceful  death.  There  was  a  lot  of talk in 2019 from those nervous fashion leaders about becoming more “sustainable”— but they didn’t  mean  by  the  crash  and  burn  method, where  less  is  produced  because  few  can  afford it and fewer desire it, and therefore companies go  under.  Tragically,  the  kind  of  independent fashion  leaders  who  truly  do  lead  by  design, creativity, and innovation are going to struggle even harder to survive, and the prognosis is . . .desperate. I’m hoping for miracles. Meanwhile, back in the fashion-industrial complex, nobody wanted  to  lose  their  ludicrous  profits  (detailed on page 15), but I’m guessing one of the better side effects of the pandemic will be that the entire world will begin functioning more like the global system it is, and that we can therefore regard this chapter as a snapshot of the dying days of  late-stage  capitalism  and  rampant  overconsumption, and a warning to not go back there. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302358110437,"sku":"NP9780143135005","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780143135005.jpg?v=1767732555","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/mend-isbn-9780143135005","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}