Meet my favorite lightweight jacket.
It matches everything. It goes with everything. It's not very warm, but it sure is cute and I wear the crap outta this thing every spring and fall. Let's face it, throughout the summer, too {because, lake wind}.
So when I noticed a little wear and tear starting to make its way to the forefront, I was bound and determined to make do and mend because I'm not ready to give this baby up just yet. And the thing I kinda love about it, is that she just gains more character with age.
Luckily, a recent crash course in embroidery gave me the courage to finally start this project. However, once I got started, I realized that the only stitch I was really using was my own freestyle version. AKA wherever the needle lead me. AKA whatever the heck I wanted.
Needless to say, this tutorial is less of a tutorial and more of a "follow my lead, but do whatever the heck you want."
I grabbed a few skeins of embroidery thread in a color palette that I enjoyed with this drab olive green {which just so happens to be my favorite color ATM} & just started stitching over the most obvious of holes.
Seeking inspiration from Elizabeth Pawle {in the subtlest of ways}, a little color blocking seemed necessary.
I saw this detail on a pair of little girls shorts at Target (similar) awhile back and the technique stuck with me, hoping to be able to use it. This was the PERFECT time! Tie a knot to secure, then tightly wrap. Tie a double knot when you're done.
I left the hem a bit ragged. I like the look & I don't have enough embroidery thread {or patience} to patch up every single hole.
The saying "make do and mend" seems a little out of date. There's not much "making do" when we can buy a brand new outfit for the same price as a lunch date.
Maybe it pertains more to the sacrifice of taking time to fix what's broken rather than throwing it away and buying something new.
The proof is here- in this olive green parka from H&M circa 2015. It lasted the appropriate amount of time a jacket from H&M is expected to last, but it's still got a lot more life to live thanks to a little extra TLC.
Up-cycling {& mending} is pretty dang cool.
