Boro is the Japanese art of mending in which textiles have been patched together to prolong their life. In recent years this simple method of fabric repair has grown in popularity as more people have pursued slow and sustainable fashion and sought to extend the life of their clothing.

I often save my old jeans that are too beat up to salvage or donate and cut up the fabric for other projects. So when I learned about boro mending, I knew my denim scraps would really turn out to be useful. In the past if an item of clothing had an especially bad tear (like the elbow of my husband’s pajama top, which nearly ripped all the way around the sleeve), I’d consider parting with it, but now I saw all sorts of possibilities and opportunities.

So I set off with a pile of projects to patch and mend, from the aforementioned pajama top to a couple of pairs of jeans. I look forward to tackling a sweater and t-shirt or two in the near future as well.