Mending Life

Learn the art and craft of mending—a joyful and meditative practice and a powerful act of restoration for the clothes and belongings we love. 

This beautifully illustrated handbook will show you how to mend jeans, socks, sweaters, down jackets, and leggings and other common repairs. Mending Life encourages us to cherish our things by repairing them rather than discarding them. Filled with heartfelt stories that celebrate a sustainable, intentional lifestyle, it also encourages us to change our consumption habits so that with small mends here and there, we extend the life of our garments and other household items. Encouraging readers interested in slow fashion and craftcore, this handbook is for beginners but also offers more advanced techniques to those with some experience in mending.

You'll learn basic techniques such as patching, but will have options to take it a step further with decorative sashiko stitching; you'll also learn how to darn socks and mend sweaters, as well as things like a tear in a bedsheet or down jacket. Along the way, Nina and Sonya Montenegro—creators of TheFarWoods— share how the powerful act of mending strengthens not only the object we are repairing, but ourselves as well. Vibrant, full-color illustrations are woven throughout the this timeless and practical guide to cherishing and caring for our belongings.

Sisters Nina and Sonya Montenegro are illustrators, printmakers, menders, quilters, beekeepers, and gardeners. In 2013, they founded The Far Woods, a creative collaboration making artwork that seeks to contribute to a cultural shift in which there is a land ethic, reverence for nature, rejection of the dominant throw-away mentality, and direct connection to where our food and the things we use come from. Many of their artworks serve as educational tools, and their practice crosses disciplines to work toward an ecologically viable and socially just future. Their studio is situated on an organic farm just outside of Portland, Oregon.