Art News - visiblemending

By A Mystery Man Writer

Last updated 17 Jun 2024

Making It: Let It Show with Visible Mending by Claire Voon March 8, 2021 "Some 3,350 years ago, an ancient Egyptian used white thread to darn an indigo headcloth likely worn by none other than Tutankhamun. While simple, the tiny running stitches, contrasting with the deep blue of the headcloth (on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art), represent something quite remarkable: They may be the oldest surviving visible mend, according to Kate Sekules, a clothes historian and avid mender. For Sekules, whose repairs extend to frayed or holey sleeves, collars, pants, or what have you, the ancient darns are “completely familiar,” as she writes in her mending guide Mend! A Refashioning Manual and Manifesto. They remind her of some of her own sewing—conspicuous stitches that not only fix but also transform the original item. Take, for instance, a pair of