Visible mend on elbow of jumper: Elbow repaired using a Swiss darn or duplicate stitch in a mix of colours matching the jumper's fair-isle pattern.
Visible darn on woven wool coat: Bright pink yarn woven and darned area of green and beige diagonal stripe wool coat.
Visible mend on denim: Jeans have been patched on reverse near front pocket and reinforced with visible sashiko stitching and whip stitching around the edge of a hole, all in white embroidery thread.
Visible mend on white cotton dress: Hand embroidery to cover pen marks on white cotton dress, floral embroidery in navy, mustard and cream threads.
Visible repair on knitwear: Visible woven darn in greens and light blue grid pattern and block shape on a lightweight orange knit.

Visible Mending

Visible mending is a great option if you want to get creative and make a statement out of your damaged item. I’m happy for you to be very specific about what you’d like, have me guide you to your decision, or you can ask me to make the creative choices for you.

If you do decide to go for a visible mend, it also means I’m more likely able to source materials from what I already have versus having to source anything new - meaning it’s extra good for the planet and usually a quicker turnaround time for your item to be fixed. 

There are so many possibilities for visible mends that aren’t shown here, so please don’t feel restricted by the examples on this page - I welcome any weird and wonderful ideas you might have! 

Detail of darn.

Visible patched mend on linen: Yellow, sage green and light blue patchwork shapes stitched onto soft purple linen in a yellow thread
Visible mend on knitwear cuff: Burgundy knitted sleeve with woven darn in khaki green with some lines of bright yellow
Visible mend on knitted jumper dress: Elbow hole patched with cream knitted fabric inside sleeve, stitched in place around edges with a mix of yellow threads
Visible darn on linen trousers: Violet trousers with two different size square darns in a gingham pattern, one in orange and cream, the other in apple green and cream
Visible mend on knitwear: Grey knit with light blue horizontal stitching and peach vertical stitching

Before & After examples

Wool blazer with bobbled fabric, and torn and worn at back seam.

Repaired with fine mending yarn in a woven darn and de-bobbled.

Elbow hole needing repair on knitted jumper
Visible mend on jumper elbow in mustard and grey yarn on flecked cream wool
Before picture of damaged knitted cuff of fair isle cardigan
Visible mended cuff using woven darning in rusty red coloured mending yarn
Visible mend on wooden blazer: Full shot of finished woven darn
Damaged back of wooden blazer: Before pic of tear down back seam
Visible darning on woven wool: Close up image of woven darn
Visible sashiko inspired repair with patch on matching fabric on reverse, stitched in place with waves of straight stitches in yellow, light blue and navy
Tear in cotton jumpsuit by strap

Repaired with a patch on reverse, and running stitch to secure and reinforce.

Tear next to strap on cotton jumpsuit.

Repaired with a woven darn in two colours of wool yarn.

Hole in elbow of wool jumper.

Repaired using woven darning with mending wool.

Hole and wear at cuff of vintage wool cardigan.

Before image of multiple holes in sleeve of fairisle cardigan

Multiple holes in sleeve of vintage wool cardigan.

Visibly mended holes in Fair Isle knit cardigan using single colour of yarn per darn using colours from original knit

Same as cuff, plus some subtle Swiss darning.