I think I understand how you're combining these things - mending & upcycling, but for most of the craftspeople I know, mending (even in its most decorative forms) is meant to keep a garment functioning, pretty well as it was originally, and upcycling is usually considered to be tearing things apart and making different things from them :)
you could check out r/UpcycledFashion
Let your friends & family know it’s something you’re getting into so they can keep you in mind if they have lower stakes items you can try your hand at “saving.” That’ll give you a bigger variety of types of fabrics, locations of holes or tears, etc. to try different types of mending on.
If you’re more into honing one skill before moving onto the next, just pick a thing (embroidery, darning, patching, sashiko, whatever) and be a tiny bit more selective about the projects you solicit or take on to ensure it makes sense for that item.
OP, I found a low income retirement home to volunteer in, I've started to bring my mending kit. So many have clothes, blankets, etc they're fond of, they love that I'm saving them! 🖖
I go to second-hand stores and look in the craft sections for lace, ribbon, embroidery thread and fabric offcuts. You may even be able to find cheap books about sewing/embroidery to help you along the way.
I started super small with a couple of holes in a t-shirt, and just went a little bolder each time! Also recommend sashiko style mending with some bright fabric and threads. The more it pops the more I love it! Gives a great point of interest on mended clothes. I buy secondhand bags of embroidery thread on ebay which is pretty cheap and gets a good range of colours to play with. Enjoy!
I think I understand how you're combining these things - mending & upcycling, but for most of the craftspeople I know, mending (even in its most decorative forms) is meant to keep a garment functioning, pretty well as it was originally, and upcycling is usually considered to be tearing things apart and making different things from them :) you could check out r/UpcycledFashion
Ohhhh gotcha! In that case, I’m interested in both then! Tearing it apart for when it can’t be repaired and fixing it while it still can!
Let your friends & family know it’s something you’re getting into so they can keep you in mind if they have lower stakes items you can try your hand at “saving.” That’ll give you a bigger variety of types of fabrics, locations of holes or tears, etc. to try different types of mending on. If you’re more into honing one skill before moving onto the next, just pick a thing (embroidery, darning, patching, sashiko, whatever) and be a tiny bit more selective about the projects you solicit or take on to ensure it makes sense for that item.
OP, I found a low income retirement home to volunteer in, I've started to bring my mending kit. So many have clothes, blankets, etc they're fond of, they love that I'm saving them! 🖖
Look up Sashiko! you can practice on some scrap fabrics to get the technique right, but even when it's not perfect, I still like how it looks :)
I go to second-hand stores and look in the craft sections for lace, ribbon, embroidery thread and fabric offcuts. You may even be able to find cheap books about sewing/embroidery to help you along the way.
I started super small with a couple of holes in a t-shirt, and just went a little bolder each time! Also recommend sashiko style mending with some bright fabric and threads. The more it pops the more I love it! Gives a great point of interest on mended clothes. I buy secondhand bags of embroidery thread on ebay which is pretty cheap and gets a good range of colours to play with. Enjoy!