SOMERVILLE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Mending clothes by hand has been growing in popularity recently, and a secondhand art supply store in Somerville explained how the technique of "visible mending" combines utility with style.
Emily Tirella established Make & Mend in 2017 to help lessen financial barriers for artists by offering gently used art and craft supplies, explained the store’s website.
Recently, more and more people have been interested in learning mending techniques, said Tirella.
“Nowadays, clothing is built a lot less well than it was in the past, so it tends to not last as long.”
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Specifically, a technique called visible mending has been gaining popularity. It’s a style of mending clothes using colorful and visible stitching to repair rips and tears so the newly mended clothing becomes a unique style statement.
“It gives it a little spice. It makes it unique… I think it can make it a little bit more special… And I always get compliments when I’m walking down the street with my mended garments,” said Tirella.
Tirella shared her background with mending. “I’ve spent a lot of time repairing my clothing myself, so I decided to start helping other people do the same.”
She has experience teaching mending techniques as well. “I started by teaching mending classes in Cambridge for a few years, and then I wrote a guide about it and started selling kits.”
Tirella discussed why she thinks older fashion techniques like mending and reusing clothing are coming back in the age of fast fashion.
“I think, especially with the economy, folks are much more interested in keeping what they have and making it last longer than continually purchasing things over and over again.”
And that mindset is at the core of Make & Mend’s mission: to repair or mend something before throwing it away.
WBZ NewsRadio's Madison Rogers (@MadisonWBZ) reports.
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