We’ve all thrown away something “perfectly good” that just suffered a minor flaw: a wobbly chair. Jeans with a knee hole. A toaster that won’t latch. All replaced by new versions that will break the same way. Most of these things could’ve been salvaged with 20 minutes and the nerve to try.
Fixing things yourself isn’t about pinching pennies. In the rising visible mending movement, it’s about refusing to treat everything as disposable. “The lightbulb moment for me was realizing I could make mending a creative act,” says Katrina Rodabaugh, textile artist and author of Mending Matters. “I was less worried about ruining my textiles and more interested to see how I could be resourceful, make a creative statement and keep my clothes out of the landfill.”
