Resources

On this page, we have linked to various resources that may help in your clothing repair journey. These are resources that our team has found through searches online and that have been suggested by our clothing repair community. It is not an exhaustive list. We are not endorsing any particular creator or repair tool brand. This is just a place to begin.  

Resources on different types of repairs

Books

• Fix Your Clothes: The Sustainable Magic of Mending, Patching, and Darning by Raleigh Briggs

• Make Do And Mend: Keeping Family and Home Afloat on War Rations: Reproductions of Official Second World War Instruction Leaflets

• Make Do and Mend

• Mend! A Refashioning Manual and Manifesto by Kate Sekules

• Mending Life: A Handbook for Repairing Clothes and Hearts

• Modern Mending: Minimize Waste and Maximize Style by Erin Lewis-Fitzgerald

• Wear, Repair, Repurpose: A Maker’s Guide to Mending and Upcycling Clothes by Lily Fulop

YouTube channels and playlists

• “Cool sewing tips and tricks for clothes repair/Amazing clothes repairs” by Learning a craft

  • Also check out other videos and playlists by this creator

• “Mending Clothes” by Evelyn Wood

• “mending/repairs” by slow fashion style

• “Online Tutorial Series” by Clothes Doctor - The Home of Clothing Care

• “Repair Clothes” by Professor Pincushion

• “Repairing, repurposing and reusing” by The Green Wrapper

• “Repairs” by Downtown Tailoring

• “Sashiko Basics” by The Green Wrapper

• “SMT Mending” by Stuart Moore Textiles

• The Daily Sew

Instagram accounts

• Clothing Repair Platform (@foreverywear_)

• Repair What You Wear (@repair_what_you_wear)

• The Seam (@the.seam.uk)

• Skye | slow stitch club (@slowstitchclub)

• Lily Fulop (@mindful_mending)

• Collingwood-Norris Mending (@visible_creative_mending)

Facebook groups

• Mending and Reusing Clothes

• Mending Mavens

• Visible Mending

• Modern Mending Club

Where can I buy mending tools in Canada?

At the Clothing Repair Cafe, we have most of the tools and supplies you'll need for any type of clothing repair! However, if you get hooked on mending and would like to have some tools of your own to use at home, there are many places you can find them.

Any sewing or fabric store (e.g., Fabricland, Johnson’s Sewing Centre, local quilting stores) sells the tools and materials you need to get started with mending. Search the “Notions” sections of their websites. 

In the spirit of extending the lifespans of items, you may also find used tools and materials at secondhand/thrift stores. One business here in Edmonton, Blenderz Garment Recyclers, often has usable zippers, buttons, and other supplies that retrieved from clothing that can no longer be worn.

Resources for starting your own Clothing Repair Cafe

The Human Ecology Clothing Repair Cafe doesn't have the capacity to reach everyone in every place. But by sharing what we know, other Clothing Repair Cafes could start popping up all over the place!

We have created two resources just for you (and they contain other helpful sources, too)!
The first is a longer, in-depth document that will lead you through how to establish and run a Clothing Repair Cafe. It offers some questions to think about in terms of your own context and talks about what worked for us.
The second is a shorter checklist that runs through the same basic information as the first document, but with less reading.