The day my favorite cashmere sweater got a hole in the arm, I was devastated. The sweater had been a hand-me-down from a friend years earlier and I wore it through many winters. It was the softest, warmest, most comfortable sweater I owned. How does one go about repairing a hole in a knitted garment? I asked an expert knitter to help me. She was able to close the hole and extend the garment’s life by several more years.
It was an epiphanic moment for me, realizing how little Western culture knows about repairing the goods we buy. Because they are so cheap and easy to replace, it’s hardly worth the bother, unless it is a gorgeous cashmere sweater that I could not afford to replace.
Learning how to repair knitted sweaters is one way to fight back against disposable clothing culture. It takes skill and practice, but it could potentially save many garments from meeting an early demise. It’s also deeply satisfying to repair your own things, or, as sustainable fashion blogger Tortoise & Lady Grey wrote in an inspiring post on this topic, to use “visible mending techniques to that add an interesting and individual touch to your garment.”
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