Kristin Roach has a new book! It's called Mend It Better.
This book is packed with information about keeping favorite items in your wardrobe even after you may feel they have seen better days. For some of the projects, you even get the feeling that the "better days" are still ahead, because the mending adds so much character. Kristin doesn't try to tell you that you can fix a moth hole in your sweater with no one the wiser. She shows you how to do it in a way to make yourself happy, and then you can celebrate the change as a small victory. The book is full of suggestions to make your mending feel like a happy accomplishment.
I count myself fortunate to be one of the contributors to this lovely work. My project starts on page 93. I thought I'd share a couple of my own photos.
In the spirit of Kristin's site, Craft Leftovers, my project is more of a reuse/recycle/upcycle kind of item. It's an old bridesmaid's dress that I cut down to be a princess dress for my daughter. I took in some seams, stitched on a ruffle, added elastic, glued on some ribbons and... ta-da!
Though I refashioned this dress way back in September, 2010, it still sees a lot of use by my girls, and I'm proud to say it has held up well and is a favorite of theirs.
Storey Publishing sent me a copy of Mend It Better for myself, but also said they'd send one free copy of the book to one of my US readers, so if you'd like a chance to win and you live in the states, please leave a comment telling me what kind of mending will be in your future! (Deadline to comment is 3/19/12.)
For more information on the book, check out the other posts on the blog tour, (Craftypod's review has some nice photos) as well as Storey's Facebook page.
Gah!! How did I miss that this was YOUR project?! I love this thing - I wish I'd have had a whole closet of them when I was a little girl. All bridesmaid's dresses would be lucky to have this fate, frankly. :-)
Posted by: Sister Diane | March 13, 2012 at 03:26 PM
That is a lovely re-fashion. My library still doesn't have a copy, but hopefully they will soon. Or maybe I will if I get lucky here on your blog.
Posted by: Lisbeth | March 13, 2012 at 07:22 PM
Congrats, Stacie! A beautiful princess dress! I finally got a sewing machine for Christmas so I can just dream of the possibilities.
Posted by: Holli | March 18, 2012 at 08:08 PM
Very sweet. I've had fun experimenting with reviving pre-loved knits: patches, felting, darning, re-knitting. Looking forward to learning more about others' projects and approaches. Thanks!
Posted by: Leila | March 19, 2012 at 01:42 AM
That is probably the best use of an old bridemaid's dress that I have ever seen.
I've always loved mending and up-cycling, and even though I'm fairly experienced, this book looks like it could teach me a lot.
Posted by: Rachel Erin | March 19, 2012 at 04:31 AM