Description
Filled with inspirational images of darning work, this is the perfect guide for those interested in preserving their garments and fabrics with mending techniques. The invention of the Darning Brooch allows you to give new life to precious fabric fragments you can’t bear to part with by creating accessories that you can keep, gift or wear. Use the fabric and thread you have at home to make these beautiful pieces, each one of which will be unique to you.
All the basic darning stitches are included for beginners with step-by-step photographs, so you can mend your clothes and save them from landfill, as well as preserving memories by turning your fragments into mementoes. If you don’t feel like wearing visible mending on your clothes, you can wear them as accessories instead. No previous sewing experience is necessary and full instructions for creating the brooches is included.
This is the only darning book you will ever need.
Author Hikaru Noguchi is one of the leading designers and creators of darned fabrics and spear-headed the recent revival in darning. She moved to England from Japan in 1989 to study constructed textiles and after completing her studies at Middlesex University she developed new and innovative textiles with designers including Tom Dixon, Top Shop and projects for Barneys, Browns, Paul Smith women, Takashimaya New York and many others. Hikaru has participated in many shows and exhibitions all over the world, and her work is sold in boutiques and department stores in London, Paris, New York and Tokyo. Other publications include Darning: Repair, make, mend, Creative Mending and Made in France: Knitting.
Praise for Hikaru’s previous books
The pictures, diagrams and profiles are so inspiring. Mending clothes is an act of looking after yourself and others. It’s essential work that Hikaru does with grace and beauty.
Celia Pym, shortlisted for the Women’s Hour Craft Prize, author of On Mending
As the environmental impacts of overconsumption become ever more apparent, repair emerges as a powerful political act. This comprehensive compendium provides both instruction and inspiration and is sure to make every reader look at their wardrobe in a whole new light. Dr Amy Twigger Holroyd, Associate Professor of Fashion and Sustainability, Nottingham Trent University
Colourful photography combined with an easily understood visual guide brings this wonderful book to life! Sanae Kido: Textile Surgery
I’ve mended things since I learned to sew as a child, and thought I knew my stuff. Everything changed when Hikaru invited me to Japan to host a darning workshop alongside the launch of her book. The school of Hikaru teaches that techniques of mending are never ending. We love to mend because we don’t want things to end, but as menders we continue to have new beginnings, just like the garments do. We are continually free to find new ways of doing things. Rachael Matthews, Textile Artist and author of Rag Manifesto
Hikaru Noguchi has a wonderful and considered approach to visible mending. In her book Darning she explains in great detail how to use a variety of darning and appliqué techniques, what materials are suitable, and step-by-step instructions. Last but not least, all techniques are accompanied by beautiful pictures for plenty of inspiration to do your own repairs. Tom van Deijnen (Tom of Holland)
