Boro Repair Shop 'Mottainai'
We use off-cuts from our denim sampling warps to patch old jeans in the style of traditional Japanese Boro mending and Sashiko stitching.
We give Boro mending workshops, and we also offer a denim repair service.
We encourage the 'make do and mend' culture, instead of the constant cycle of buying and disposing that we often see today.
We need to learn how to repair, and not replace, to take care of our clothes, and not be wasteful in our buying habits.
Mottainai', means 'too good to waste.
Aviary Denim
Southend-on-Sea, England
First the runner stitch is done, then the crosses
A stubborn stain is covered up with this darned twill mend.
Strengthening the back side of some well loved jeans with our denim off-cut patches
Once the patches have been tacked on, the Sashiko stitching begins. For this, we also use waste yarn.
Each patch is an off-cut from a different sampling denim warp, made with mill waste cotton and dyed with natural indigo
A small hole has been repaired using a classic darning technique, woven with needle and thread in a twill structure.
The finished repair work, ready to be worn again
Three offcuts from our denim sampling warps, used to repair an old pair of jeans
We use many different types of stitch, this one is a running stitch, ready to become Sashiko crosses
A hole in the back of a paid of jeans is patched with denim sampling off-cuts
Once the patches have ben tacked on, the stitching begins, to hold the layers together
The jeans are repaired and ready to be worn again! Off-cuts from our denim sampling warps have been used to patch the jeans, and only mill waste yarn was used to weave the patches.
The inside of the jean must also have a patch, so that the Sashiko stitching secure the two layers together to cover the hole on both sides.
First we decide where each patch should go, before tacking them onto the jeans
A worn corner of an apron has been repaired using a visible mending technique
Four visible mends to the inside knee of each leg of a well worn black jean
We celebrate the holes sometimes instead of covering them up. Repairing our clothes makes them stronger than they were when we bought them!
These offcuts from our denim sample warps will now be used as patches in the denim repair shop