Mend & Make Fabulous

by Denise Wild

Give your clothes a new lease on life!

Showing how to take classic mending techniques one step further to add personality and style to clothes, Mend & Make Fabulous is a uniquely comprehensive resource that combines visual inspiration with practical advice for the fashion-conscious sewer. The ability to repair and restore clothes is priceless, and Mend & Make Fabulous provides a comprehensive guide to all the classic mending techniques and then holes and tears; ripped or frayed seams; discoloration, stains, or fading; broken snaps and closures; and so much more.

This book also shows you how to add some creativity to mending--fixing holes with studs or appliqueÌ; hiding discolorations by dip-dyeing; concealing frayed hems by adding cuffs or trimâ€"that will make clothes even more fabulous than they were the first time around. Mend & Make Fabulous offers a detailed or consolidated resource on all the mending techniques you need in order to work with all types of clothing mishaps.

Genres: Sewing, Nonfiction, Crafts, Fashion

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 2014

Reviews

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

31 December 2025

The kids these days are perforce a thrifty lot, and they are also creative and eager to take up new manual skills. I am no adept at sewing, and have never been much interested in learning more. My clothes must be functional and comfortable, but I've never cared if my soft t-shirts have holes.
So, while I admire the creativity and skill demonstrated in the Fabulous bits, I shan't be attempting any such upgrades.
But for anyone who has beloved clothes they want to keep using, I can't recommend the Mending sections enough. Having read this book I now at least know what damage I'm looking at and how it needs to be repaired. A great reference to have handy.

Library copy

[Sula · Rating 1 out of 5]

In essence: there's easier to follow and better advice to be found with a quick internet search.

This is aimed to be a guide on how to mend clothes for beginners. Unfortunately the most of the photos are too small and taken too far away to clearly see the stitch being made, or what is happening. The processes are often unclear and lacking useful images for the more complex adaptions to be understood. Half of the tips are simply variations on a theme of try and find something similar to replace whatever it is you are mending (lace, chains, elastic, same colour fabric etc.)

Incredibly, for a book on basic mending there's nothing on darning because apparently 'darning is a technical and time-consuming skill that even superstar sewers no longer really do very often these days'.... darning is not hard, and an very useful technique for mending things, and will look a darn sight better than the method here, and also last longer, causing less stress on the surrounding fabric.

The other non-step-by-step photos are just images off blogs, I doubt most are mended/adapted ones from the way they look, and also because I remember seeing some of them floating round the internet back in the day. The 'make fabulous' aspect are fairly basic and obvious things such as add some patches or stubs or dye it. The funniest one for a book on mending has to be distressing it: rub the garment with sandpaper 'checking every few rubs to ensure you do not damage the fabric' - if you rub fabric with sandpaper you are damaging it! Of course the other photos on that page are of ripped clothes, so not only is a book on mending and trying to increase the longevity of clothes showing you how to do the complete opposite it also doesn't show you how to get the effect pictured!

[Lisbet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would add the subtitle: How to Extend the Life of Your Clothes.

This book seems to be aimed at very beginning sewers with little to no prior experience. It covers how to do very basic repairs like replacing a button, fixing a hem, fixing a snag in a fabric, etc.

Then it moves on to changing and improving the fit. For example, adding twill tape to the inside of the back of the waistline to prevent it from stretching during the day, changing the shape of the garment (or just the shape of the neckline), and how to change the length, and how to take it in or let it out.

The end of the book has some tips on how to care for your clothes, how to launder, etc.

My favorite tip for how to liven up an old outfit: add a pop of color to the buttonholes by removing old buttonhole stitching and restitching it with a contrast color (p. 108).

Very basic advice, but I think this would be a great resource for anyone without a sewing background on how to extend the life of the clothes you own and as a bonus save $$$ and the environment!

[Sarah Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a good book for those who have some basic sewing skills and would like to mend their own clothing instead of tossing it out. It had some good ideas on how to mend the item, usually in a couple of different ways. It would then also give ideas on ways to alter clothes to personalize them for yourself as well. It should definitely be on any young ladies reading list who like to keep their stylish clothes in good repair instead of tossing and buying new for minor mishaps!

[Carolyn Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to fix a motley array of issues (rips, stressed seams, hems, runs) in a variety of fabrics, from chiffon to knit to denim. AND how to add in fabulous, chic accents while you're at it. This is the kind of book that not only has good instruction and illustration for a practical skill, but is formatted in a way that will remain relevant and fashionable for quite a while to come.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book seems more dedicated to fashion rather than mending techniques, but it still had some good info on how to fix various issues in different fabrics. I would say this is a good book if you're not only looking to mend your clothes, but potentially refashion them as well.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good sewing book if you are just getting into sewing. It is targeted towards teens. The book offers a lot of different sewing techniques.

[Theo · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much bad advice!! Which is really a shame because it also addresses some specific problems (twisted t-shirts, strained seams etc) that I haven't seen included in similar books before. A couple of the ideas for "making [your clothes] fabulous" were fun too; I liked the idea of replacing boring buttonhole thread with a contrasting color, for example. But my god, those few good pages in no way make up for the sheer negligence of the rest of the book. No, you cannot fix a rip in denim simply by zigzagging it closed. No, pinching a hole shut and sewing it puckered is not going to look good, hang correctly, or wear well. Studs should be hammered in for best results, not ironed on as suggested here. You wouldn't know it from this book, but knowing the fiber content of a garment is crucial to a successful dye outcome. It is odd for a book about mending to declare that pilled knit garments are "ruined" as opposed to simply another opportunity for repair. And although Wild is right to advise that "the proper thread is key to any sewing project," don't expect any further guidance on that issue from her. If you are new to mending, my strong recommendation is that you skip this book in favor of almost any other.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pros: I *did* find myself using this as a reference, it *did* introduce me to simple and easy techniques that I could then adapt to my own liking. For example, I'd never thought of using fusible interfacing as a way to mend a hole even though I've used it to create patches. Why did that never occur to me?

Cons: I'm not a huge fan of the layout of the book/the photography/etc. The fashion or style represented in the book doesn't really appeal to me.

Verdict: I'll definitely check this book out from the library again and it might eventually make it to my personal collection. We'll see. I appreciate that it's very utilitarian. It feels more like a "this will work just fine while being fast and easy" sewing book rather than a "here is how to do things 'the right way' if you are willing to invest the time and energy to learn" book. I find it useful to have access to both.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for anyone who is learning to sew, wanting to learn how to save money by mending or altering clothes (including zipper replacement) or how to embellish clothing. As an experienced sewist, I didn't learn anything new, but the information is accurate, the photos clear and the embellishment ideas fun and entertaining! Also, the author has great sewing credentials, but she acknowledged several ways of doing something, such as hemming, with advice for when she might choose one over another and why.

[Aja Marsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice simple tips and helpful pictures for common mending needs!

[Laurla2]

-other than one suggestion for patching lace (of which i have none), i wasnt impressed with this book. some of the fixes left the tear still obvious.
-the fixes all seemed to involved making clothing smaller. nothing about how to add a little length here or there.
-the 'fashionable' fixes didnt appeal to me. and there was more focus on the so-called fashion than the mending.

[Mo]

If ever I learn how to sew this would be a great book because it shows you how to mend and how to make already made clothes your own.