Your First Visible Mend: How to Mend a T-shirt with Embroidery

1. Introduction: I don't like to throw out my clothes because they got holes in them. I want to continue to use them every day. Visible mending is a way to mend clothing, and also decorate it at the same time. Many cultures have visible mending traditions. Currently here in the West, visible mending is extremely popular due to the popularity of Sashiko. But Western visible mending is not Sashhiko. I'm not qualified to teach about that because I am not Japanese. However, I am qualified to teach western visible mending. Hi, my name is Jax Lily, and I like to learn new things. I started sewing waay back when I was six years old. But I started learning embroidery pretty recently during the pandemic. I'm autistic. So when I find clothing I like, I want to keep it for a long time. I want to mend it. So I recently learned mending. The last thing about me, I'm disabled, and that affects my sewing. I will be sharing my tips for sewing with a disability. This class includes four main things: First, the ladder stitch. Second, the running stitch. Third, the short and long stitch. And the fourth thing, I will teach you how to make and use a patch. I hope you all enjoy my class! If you're curious about Sashiko, I have some recommended readings below in the class resources. Also if you want to see more from me, Follow me here on Skillshare and Instagram. Bye-bye. 2. Project: This project is to mend a t-shirt. I want you to do three things. Number one is to pick a shirt with a hole in it and mend that. Number 2 is to ask. Uhm. One what-if question. Number 3 is to answer your question using your mend. If you don't understand what this means. That's fine. Throughout the class, I will explain what it means to ask a what-if question and to answer it. For the project, you need four things: A needle, thread, t-shirt fabric, and scissors. The project goals are. Uhm. You need to practice all the stitches I teach you. Second, you need to identify which way is best for your shirt. And the third goal is the most important: to experiment with ideas. If you struggle to come up with ideas, that's fine. I'll give you examples of three ways you might mend a shirt You can just do that. The first way is to use a ladder stitch to close a hole. The second is to use a patch. And the third is to use the short and long stitch to trace. Remember, when you finish your project, I want to see it in the gallery. So remember to post in below. Lastly, if you have very strong feelings about something, remember to post about it below in the discussion area. I hope to see all of your beautiful projects. 3. Materials: For this class, I'm focusing on t-shirt fabric. This kind of fabric is called a knit fabric. This means there are teeny tiny knit stitches. If you pay close attention, you can see very thin columns made up of teeny V's. This makes it very stretchy. If you want to use a patch, it's important to use the same kind of fabric. So you can- if you have another t-shirt that you don't like, you don't have to get rid of it. You can use it as a patch. The next thing is a needle. There are many kinds of needles. If you go to the store and try to pick a needle, but you're like, "oh, I don t know which to use. I'm so confused!" It's fine. There are two kinds of needles most people use. The first is a sharp. The second is an embroidery needle. A sharp is very thin with a small eye. It's used for normal hand sewing. For this class, it's best not to use this because in this class we're doing embroidery. The thread is a bit thick, not thin, so it's important to have a bigger eye. So the other kind, the embroidery needle, is better to use. It's similar to a sharp, but the eye is big, so it's easy to get the thread through. But if you struggle with dexterity, or making small movements with your hands, it might be better to use other kinds of needles. I have three recommendations. The first one is crewel needle. This needle has a huge eye, bigger than the embroidery needle. So it's very easy to get your thread through it. But most of the time this needle is thick, so it's not great to use, but if it works for you, go ahead. The second one is a darning needle. This one is similar than the sharp, but it's very long. Normally, the sharp is about this big, but the darner is about twice that length. It's very easy to manipulate and grip. But if dexterity and grip are extremely hard, that's okay too. The last needle is the doll needle. Normally, it's used to make, well, dolls. But this needle is huge. It's very easy to just grip and stitch big stitches with. So, you can find one that's fairly thin, and use it if you really struggle with dexterity, That's fine to use. For the thread, most of the time when sewing, you use sewing thread. It's very thin, but it's hard to use for embroidery. For this class, it's better to use embroidery floss. This has strands that you can separate and then put back together. You can make any size thread you want with this. Whatever you need. The last thing you need is scissors. There are two kinds of scissors you might want to use. Fabric scissors and thread scissors. If you can only get one pair of scissors, use the fabric scissors. These are specifically for cutting fabric. They're very sharp and easy to use. Do not use paper scissors, it won't work. The thread scissors are very small and they're used specifically for cutting thread. There are many other useful things you can use for your needs. You have problems with vision, you can use pins to help make a tactile guide. You can also use a needle threader to help get the thread through the needle. Also thimbles help with gripping problems. I use a thimble a lot. So if you struggle with grip problems, pay attention to how I use the thimble. So with that information, hopefully y'all can get your materials and start sewing with me. 4. Starting and Ending a Thread: [soft music] Now, ready to start sewing?! Eh, not so fast, OK? First, we need to know how to start and end a thread. Normally with sewing, you tie a knot in the thread. But the problem with that is with embroidery, we use a lot of threads. With lots of knots, it rubs up against your skin and starts to hurt after awhile. I don't like that. So, it's important not to tie a knot. But what do you do? How do you secure a thread without a knot? [music calms] The first way is to start a thread with the loop method. But, only if you have an even number of threads. This is because you need to secure your thread by folding it in half and using the loop. So this method always has an even number of threads. With the doubled thread, bring the needle up through the back of the fabric. Then flip the fabric over. Now, there is a loop sticking out of the back. Bring your needle back up to form the first stitch and then put it through the loop. Draw the thread gently until the loop closes, and you're done. Loop works for starting, but what about ending? How do you end a thread? There are two ways to end. Both of the ending methods can be used to start as well. First is the weave method. The weave method works if you have a ton of embroidery stitches. Weaving is easy. Flip your fabric to the back of your work. You can see there are a lot of stitches in a thick layer. Slide your needle under those stitches, between the stitches and the fabric. Easy, you're done. You can make this even more secure by weaving a thread back and forth a few times. But the problem with this is the stretch of the fabric will be reduced. So don't weave too many times. Once is fine. But if you're worried, you can weave your thread diagonally instead of horizontally. This will maintain the stretch of the fabric. The last method is used for patches. When you're finished sewing on the patch, you have a fabric layer and a patch layer. Draw your needle between the two layers and up again. And that's it. Your future stitches will go through the thread tail, securing it. For starting with thread, sometimes it's difficult to see where the end is. Sometimes, you pull it all the way through again and again and again. It's hard. So what do you do? If you're struggling, use your thumb and forefinger to pinch the thread near the needle hole. Slowly pull the thread through, feeling the thread as it passes through your fingers. Stop pulling when you stop feeling the thread. So remember, for embroidery, don't tie knots in your thread. You don't need to. If you need to, look over this lesson a few more times. So, the next lesson we start sewing. Finally! [upbeat adventurous music] 5. The Ladder Stitch: Now we can start sewing! But, before we start embroidery, we need to close the hole. You can do two things. One is the ladder stitch, and the other is a patch. In this lesson, I'm teaching how to do the ladder stitch. What is the ladder stitch? It's a really fun stitch. It looks like a ladder. You stitch on one side of the hole, and then the other over and over. The thread lays over the area like ladder rungs. Then when you're finished, you hold both ends and pull and the hole closes up. This stitch is best used for tears or cuts. I use it for t-shirts or whatever. Also, it works beautifully for cat and dog toys. I know in the last lesson, I explained how to secure a thread. But for this stitch, you don't need to. This is because for our project, we're just going to take out this thread later. So you don't need to secure it. We can if you want to, but you don't need to. So to start sewing, start your stitch below the hole. Insert your needle into the fabric. And then up again, just like inserting a pin vertically. Down and then up, Repeat this on either side of the hole. Alternating sides. Don't pull tight yet. Stitch gently. You don't need to pull it tight. Keep going all the way to the top. When you're done, hold the thread at the bottom and at the top and pull. The hole will shrink and close. Hey, some mistakes might happen. So pay attention. If you've finished pulling the stitch tight and the fabric looks puckered. That's normal. Don't worry. Later, you can cover it with embroidery. But there are ways you can reduce pucker. First, when you start your stitch, don't start it too close to the hole. Started lower down in line with the hole. Maybe about one centimeter below it, or even up to an inch. Increase the width of the stitch around the hole, and then decrease it again at the top. That will look a lot better. Another mistake is sometimes sewing too close to the edge of the hole. That's incorrect because later the hole will tear open again. You want to stitch more, maybe half or one centimeter away from the edge. This is because it will tear due to the fabric at the edge of the hole being weak and easy to tear. So for our next lesson, we'll learn a stronger way to support the t-shirt fabric. Remember, if you have a tear or cut in your shirt, the ladder stitch is a good stitch to use. Pay attention the quality of the fabric surrounding the hole, this very important. If the t-shirt fabric around the hole is weak, you need more support. If you have questions for me about this stitch, remember to use the discussion area down below. 6. Making a Patch: In this lesson, I will show you how to make and sew a patch. The best time to use a patch is if the hole is, um the area around the hole is worn out. The first thing you need to do is measure for the patch. I can't see the full damaged area. So I measure by feeling the fabric around the area. You can feel where the fabric is thinned out and where it's thick. Where it's normal. I can feel all that, but I can't see it. So I feel around. Now that I've found the damaged area, I use my finger to measure. You only need about one centimeter, the same as the tip of a finger. You can measure using a ruler. But most of the time I don't. Cutting is easy, just use fabric scissors to cut around. And you're done! You have a patch! You don't need a large seam allowance because we're using knit fabric so that... you don't need to worry about the edge of the fabric fraying. If you struggle to see the lines on your fabric, it's fine. You can use pins to outline and use that as a tactile guide for cutting by feel. Now, you need to sew the patch onto the t-shirt Do that with a basting stitch which I'm signing as "temporary stitch." What is a basting stitch? It's just a normal running stitch but you use large stitches. Normally, you would use tiny stitches, but with a basting stitch, you use large stitches. This is because later, we want to remove them. The basting stitch is easy. You have your patch on your fabric. And use your needle to go down into the fabric and up again in a straight line all the way around. Remember to leave a tail so later you can remove the thread. Stitch all the way around and you're done. There's a second way to do a basting stitch. But this time, instead of going around the edges, you stitch in the middle. Take your patch on the fabric and use a stitch that's kind of like a ladder stitch. Start stitching in the middle of the patch near the edge, side to side, in columns the whole patch is covered. I like to do that if the patch is a weird shape or very large or if just like that, I sometimes prefer to use it. But whatever, use whatever works for you. I will describe three common errors. First, with the basting stitch, sometimes you use very small stitches. That is incorrect because later it will be too hard to remove them. So try to use large stitches. But the second error is if you stitch too big, you don't need to do that. What happens is the patch will start to come off and not that. The third common error is sometimes you measure everything and cut everything and stitch your patch on. And then notice it's too small and part of it isn't covered. You need to throw it out! No, no, no. Don't toss it. Just make a second patch and layer them. You don't need to throw out your work. It's fine. The fun part about mending is you can mend, again and again, layering and layering your patches and spreading out your design. Everything becomes beautiful and your mending patch design is wonderful. I really love mending with the visible mending. Again, remember, patching is good for if your fabric is worn out. Also, patching is good for holes on printed t-shirts. But if you have a hole on a printed t-shirt, used to patch underneath not on top. When you're done, you can use the short and long stitch to trace the print pattern. Patching is a wonderful time to try asking a what-if question. You can use different shapes, different fabrics, but I do recommend using the same kind of fabric. But if you want to do something, but you're worried about ruining your shirt, It's fine. Ask me about it below in the discussion area. 7. The Short and Long Stitch: So the last stitch for the class: the short and long stitch, which I sign this way. I chose this because it's a very flexible stitch. you can use it for many different designs. Another reason I picked this stitch is, it's good for knit fabrics. Knit fabrics are very stretchy, so you need stitches that continue to stretch. This stitches done, it looks like a lot of straight running stitches side-by-side, but it's not stitched in straight lines. It's stitched in rows of vertical stitches. This makes a zig-zag shape. Anytime the stitch shape is a zig-zag, it will stretch. This stitch is a little bit complicated. Hopefully, I'll explain it well. But ASL is my second language. So if I explain poorly, hopefully the demonstration will. So the first stitch. The needle comes up on the top of the stitch and comes down right below to create a vertical stitch. Next, the next stitch is level with the top of the first one, but it's half the size. Continue making alternating short and long stitches for the entire first row. Now notice that you have different length stitches. Short long, short long, short long. On the second row, don't continue this pattern. Only stitch the short stitches. Stitch under the first short stitch in the first row. Then skip the long stitch and stitch under the next short stitch. Continue making stitches only in line with the short stitches from the first row. Now notice the first row's long stitches have become shorter. The bottom of the pattern still looks like it has a short and long pattern along the whole bottom. Now, all the stitches will be the same size, but they will continue to be offset. Continue stitching in rows the same way. Row by row. Stitching only under the short stitches from the previous row and skipping the long ones. But on the last row, if you want the bottom to be straight, stop skipping. Continue the short and long pattern from the first row all along the bottom. But follow a line on the bottom. Done! The full stitch is finished! You can use it to do a lot of things. It's a little like coloring, but with thread. But again, with all stitches, it has common mistakes. But some mistakes are not really mistakes. Sometimes you just need to relax. So sometimes you start stitching and as you go, you notice there's a gap in your previous row. You gasp. And it seems like maybe this was a mistake. But sometimes with stretchy fabrics, what happens is you hold the fabric in a way that stretches it out. So try putting it on a flatter surface and if the gap is still there, it's okay. In the next row, just filled in. Doing that will change the pattern. You'll have short long, short long short long, short short. It just happens that sometimes your pattern gets messed up and that's normal. Pattern will almost never be perfect. But when you're fully finished, it will look beautiful. No one will notice that. The next mistake really is a mistake. Sometimes you accidentally reduce the stretch. What happens is if you stitch too tightly. Don't do that. Relax and be careful and gentle. Also sometimes if your stitches are way too close together, the problem is the same. The stretch of the fabric is reduced. So try to experiment and see what works for you. The last mistake is sometimes you finish stitching and turn your work around. Suddenly you notice the thread is all tangled. There's loops everywhere. It's just a disaster. That's fine. Most of the time, if you accidentally mess up the back, you'll keep stitching over the messed-up part and the stitching itself will secure the thread. So just check and give the loops some tugs. If they're totally secure, just trim them. If they're not secure, maybe use some more stitches over that area to secure it. This stitch is a great time to experiment. You can do whatever shapes you want or color in a drawing full of stitches. Or if you have a print T-shirt, you can trace the print. It's a lot of fun. Just, for this stitch, do whatever feels right. If you continue to practice, you will learn more about what feels right and what feels wrong. But only with practice. If you don't practice, you will never understand what is right and what is wrong. You just need to keep stitching. Remember, if you struggle a lot or feel excited about your work. Post about it below in the discussion area. I want to see what everyone has to say. 8. Conclusion: Thank you so much for watching my class. I really enjoyed making it. I tried to make a class before using my voice, but it didn't work. I can't use my voice for filming. so I tried to just use AAC, but, um, it looked weird, so I decided to sign. But, ASL is my second language. Most of the time, my ASL is mixed with PSE, which is a kind of Signed English. So hopefully, if you all can understand ASL, I hope you understand me. And if you don't understand ASL, I hope you enjoyed watching ASL. So this class seemed simple, but really there was a lot to learn. We learned five things. Number one was how to select materials. Number two was how to start and end a thread. Number three was how to make a ladder stitch, a basting stitch. and a short and long stitch. Number four was how to make a patch. And number five, we learned many ways to sew with a disability. But there are three most important things to remember from class. If you forget everything else. The stitching, the patching, whatever. Your mind is wiped of it all, remember three things. First, always ask what-if questions. It helps to come up with ideas. Second, keep testing different ways to see what helps you do something easier. Third, always use appropriate tools and assistive technology for your needs. For this class. I wanted to include a lot more things, but I didn't want to overwhelm you all. So if you want to learn more sewing and stuff, let me know down in the discussion area or in the review area. I will be paying attention to all the comments to see what people want to learn next. So I can make a new class for you all. Because I want to teach things you want to learn. But also things I think our interesting. But if I think it's interesting, but you all don't want to learn that. What's the point? So remember to let me know what you want to learn. Also, it really helps me if you review the class. If it's good or bad. Whatever. It still helps me. It helps me learn what to do better or what to keep doing. So drop a review, thanks. Lastly, if you liked this class and want to see more classes from me, follow me here on Skillshare. Also, if you want to see what my progress for the next class I'm making is, Follow me over on Instagram. Thank you so much for coming here to learn with me. Bye-bye.