Mending Over Spending: Caring for and Repairing Some Favorite Pieces

One way to make your wardrobe more sustainable and save money

I have a tendency to let the “clothes that need some work” pile accumulate a few items before I start to feel the pressure to tackle them. The final straw usually comes when an item that I commonly wear needs attention, so then I set aside a little time to work through all of the items.

Which is exactly what happened recently when one of my favorite black tops developed a hole along an arm seam. I remember a time when I wouldn’t have wanted to invest a little bit of time to fix an item, instead sending it to the donate pile to become someone else’s problem, only to spend hours and $$ to find a replacement - I feel a little embarrassed admitting that.

It’s only been during the last decade, since becoming aware of the effects of clothing consumption and production on people and the planet, that I’ve become much more conscientious in how I care for my clothes.

If you are like I used to be, thinking of clothing as disposable, I hope that you find some inspiration in the clothing care projects that I am sharing here.

Project 1: Mending a hole along an arm seam

I’m so happy that I decluttered and reorganized my sewing supplies recently so that they are all together and immediately accessible. It made repairing one of my favorite tops quick and easy.

When I went to wear this top a few weeks ago, I noticed that there was a hole along one of the inside arm seams. So I took it off and vowed to sew it up so that it wouldn’t get bigger. And then I left it for a few weeks before the desire to wear it again finally got me to tackle my clothing care pile!

In case you’re new to repairing seam rips, here are the steps that I took:

Step 1: Choose a matching thread color and a needle size that compliments the fabric - I chose a smaller needle size but this fabric is viscose and stretchy so needle size wan’t as big of a deal here. However, if I was repairing something delicate such as silk, I would choose a very thin needle to avoid holes in the fabric.

Step 2: Thread the needle and knot the two ends of the thread together.

Step 3: Turn the garment inside out, squeeze the seam together, and starting just above the hole, push the needle through gently until you come to the knot at the end of the thread.

Step 4: Continue to close the seam until you get to the end. Make a loop with the thread and form a knot using the needle. Pull tightly. Repeat a couple of times to secure.

During, after (inside), after (outside)

Good as new (well, almost but you can’t really tell that it’s not 😅).

Project 2: Mending a Cotton Sweater

I’ve had this green cotton sweater since 2023 and I hadn’t worn it very much so I was planning on decluttering it. Unfortunately, it somehow ended up getting hooked on something and developed an unsightly pull on the front. There were actually 2 pulls - a small one where the yarn was intact and a larger one where the yarn had snapped.

I knew that I needed to repair this before donating it but I had no idea how to do it, so I kept procrastinating on it and it’s been sitting in the clothing care pile for 6-ish months!

Finally, I decided to try something:

Step 1: I knotted a piece of thread around the long snapped ends and then I pulled the thread through the smaller intact loop.

Step 2: I pushed the needle back through the center of the pulled area.

Step 3: After confirming that the front looked good, I cut off the thread and I knotted the long snapped ends together quite a few times to secure it.

Tying thread around the snapped ends, after pulling the thread back through (outside), after pulling the thread back through (inside)

The end result:

The finished repair - outside and inside

It’s not perfect but I think that this is the best that I can do with my very limited knowledge of knitting. Since it’s a cotton sweater, I think I’ll hold on to it and see if I wear it during the warmer months.

After the repair, I actually decided to keep the sweater and it’s been a great transitional item in my wardrobe!

Project 3: Getting the smell of perfume out of a leather handbag (or trying to)

I thrifted this leather backpack following the end of my no buy year. It’s the perfect leather backpack - sleek shape, soft leather and minimal detailing. I saw it just as I was on my way to the checkout and I knew that I didn’t have anything like it!

I didn’t notice it in the shop but when I got it home, I noticed an overwhelming smell of perfume coming from the bag. I wiped the leather down and took an alcohol wipe to the inside of the bag, hoping this would help. And maybe it did help a little, but whenever I walked past it in my closet, I can smell the perfume. And while it’s not a bad smell (sweet, a little sickeningly), I think that I really ought to wash the bag out.

So, after dealing with the smell for about 4 months, that’s finally what I did:

Step 1: I turned the bag inside out and tucked all straps inside.

Step 2: Placed the backpack in a large lingerie bag to keep everything contained and to protect it further.

Step 3: Added mild, unscented laundry detergent to the machine and put the settings on cold water, low spin and high soil load for a few extra minutes of washing.

Steps 1, 2 & 3

Step 4: A sniff test reveled that the scent was still faintly present so I decided to do another wash suing the same settings. I did spray a little shout into the machine this time around.

Step 5: I turned the bag right side out and used a soft cloth to dry the wet areas.

Step 6: I laid the backpack flat to dry, using water bottles to keep it open so that air could circulate inside. I removed these once the leather had dried and then I hung the bag on a hook with the flap open for a few days.

Marks on the lining are gone, the leather after being washed, using water bottles to help with drying

Step 7: I conditioned the leather.

Before, Conditioning Balm, After

While the 2 washes didn’t entirely remove the perfume odor, it’s very faint and it no longer takes over the closet. The leather is a tad stiffer than it was before washing, but I expect it to soften more over time.

I wish this project had a happier ending but I just can’t get past the perfume smell. I have no issues with owning items that were owned by someone else, but I don’t want those items to smell like someone else. Which is why I decided to declutter this bag in my most recent declutter of my handbags (watch the video).

I feel good about getting a lot of the smell out so that it’s not overpowering for the next owner. A commenter on the video suggested I put a box of baking soda inside the bag and then put the bag inside a paper bag for a week to get rid of the smell which I will try before donating it.

* As a disclaimer, I have washed leather items in the washing machine before so I felt confident in my decision to wash this item in the machine. Also, in the event that washing it did ruin it, I hadn’t invested much money into this bag and as such, felt that the reward would be greater than the risk I took. I wouldn’t do this with something that I had invested a lot of money into.

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These 3 projects took less than an hour of work (excluding the work that the washing machine did) and now that they’re completed, I don’t know why it took me so long to get to them!

I think it’s so easy to put these minor projects off to the side, even when we have a few spare minutes, in lieu of mindless activities such as doom scrolling (please tell me it’s not just me 😢).

Are there any small projects that you’ve been putting off?

Thanks for reading! x Gillian