Repairs and visible mending

A garment built to last is a garment that will need a repair at some point. That is not a contradiction; it is the definition. The Bench Note The case for visible repair says why. This page says where and when.

What wears first

The same points on every piece, and they are the points the construction already pays attention to:

• Topstitching — the thread sits proud and rubs. A broken run of stitches is the earliest sign of wear on a jean.
• Hems and cuffs — floor, shoes, table edges.
• Pocket corners and the base of the fly — the pull points, held by bar tacks and rivets. See Reinforcement and bar tacks.
• Pocket bags — keys and coins from the inside. See Pocketing.
• The crotch and inner thigh — where the cloth rubs on itself, on a jean that is worn a lot.
• Elbows and the back of the collar on a jacket.

Why early

A broken bar tack is a five-minute re-sew. A pocket corner that has torn a centimetre into the cloth is a patch. A crotch that has thinned to threads is a reweave or a large panel. The same wear, caught at three different stages, is three different jobs. Look at the pull points now and then; a repair caught early is small and quiet.

Repairs that show

A repair can be invisible — matched thread, hidden patch — and sometimes that is right. But a visible repair is not a lesser one. A darn in a contrasting thread, a patch on the outside, a line of stitching that plainly says "this was worn through and kept" is honest about the garment's life, and it is often stronger, because it is not constrained by having to disappear. The choice is the wearer's. Both are respectable.

Doing it yourself, or not

Most of what is listed above can be done at home with a needle, strong thread and some patience — a darn over a patch of scrap denim, a re-sewn hem, a hand-worked bar tack. If a repair is beyond that, or you would rather it came back to the bench that made it, the practical side is on the Returns & Repairs page. Repair over replacement is the preference either way.