On Instagram, hashtags like #mendingmatters and #makedoandmend mark tens of thousands of posts showcasing colorfully and often gorgeously patched sweaters, jeans, dresses and coats. Sashiko, the Japanese form of decorative reinforced stitching invented in the early 17th century, is as popular as ever.
Tom van Deijnen, a software engineer and accomplished home sewer who lives in Brighton, England. Mr. Van Deijnen, who goes by the name Tom of Holland (he is Dutch), is generally recognized as the popularizer, if not the inventor, of visible mending, and one of the first to use the hashtag.
Visible mending is a political act but equally a meditative and low-stakes creative activity.
Wearing a visibly mended garment as a way for a self-described introvert to make a statement about fashion’s throwaway culture.
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