Cooking, cleaning, sewing: Those skills we were supposed to learn back in Home Ec class did not stick with me. I begrudgingly cook and clean when I absolutely have to, and I can maybe sew on a button, but that’s about it.

When I first got into zero waste, I would see posts and classes about mending clothes. The idea is that if you can do a few basic sewing projects, you can salvage clothes with small holes or tears that would otherwise become trash.

So this week, I am challenging myself to learn two basic mending skills: darning socks and patching jeans. For the socks, I found this tutorial which seems totally doable!

For the jeans, I bought a pair of Gap jeans at a thrift store this summer and I love them, but didn’t notice they were stretching beyond their means at the back pockets. I don’t have a sewing machine, so my options may be more limited on this one. I am not finding a great tutorial for this online, but I’ll keep digging. I may just need to bring the jeans to the fabric store and ask them what I need.

So that’s it! Sounds simple, but is definitely out of my comfort zone and not something I’ve made time to learn how to do in the past. Wish me luck!