Darning & Mending
Attempts at darning cloth or sewing up tears are common. People apparently attempted to extend the life of their fabrics as long as possible. The majority of fragments and complete articles show signs of long usage; most are darned and many are patched.
Patterns
Stitches
Treatment of Edges
Darning & Mending
Spotlight: Mabel Fragua
Darning
Running and twine stitches are the standard darning techniques found commonly in the Southwest. These have already been named as embroidery stitches, also, and the suggestion has been made that embroidery developed from darning through the realization that stitches on the surface of the cloth could be made to have decorative value. This view is supported by the fact that in some cases it has been impossible to determine whether stitching was intended to serve practical or aesthetic ends.
Running-stitch darn.
Twine-stitch darn.
Running-stitch darn.
Running-stitch darn.
Close-packed darning.
Mending
Method of mending torn cloth.
Method of mending torn cloth.
Method of mending torn cloth.
Patching
Common method of sewing patches to torn cloth.
Patch sewed on with overcast stitch.
Patch sewed on with double thread in twine-stitch technique..
An unusual patch with edges sewn under.
School for Advanced Research