Zoe Edwards put out this easy to read and follow book on mending this year.

Zoe has been very open about her views on sustainable clothes and she’s distilled her years of sewing and reusing fabrics in her very first publication. At the end of the day, you’ll certainly pick up a skill or two so you can make the best use of the clothes you already own, whether you’ve made them or not. Right at the start Zoe runs through what you need for a basic sewing kit to mend clothes.

Every household used to have a basic sewing kit and when we were able to travel freely, tiny sewing kits were part of your hotel welcome pack. Zoe sprinkles great tips throughout her book to make your mending journey so much easier. The sewing tools kit to set up your own sewing kit can be bought from any large retails including supermarkets. There’s even a great section for those of us who are left-handed.

Granted, you can find mending tutorials online. What Zoe does is run you through the basics of common mending tasks and how to set up your mending so you get a decent result. The materials to use are outlined in the book as a starting point. Mending is one of those skills you can easily morph into textile artistry. Just follow #visiblemending to see over 98,000 examples of mending ideas you can create. Alternatively follow @visiblemend Kate Sekules who’s aspirational mends are in Zoe’s book. Kate also runs #mendmarch every year for the mending community

After blogging for over a decade, you’ll find many of Zoe’s great mending and sustainable sewing projects featured in this book. Keeping your clothes wearable for many years gets easier the more mending you do. It might take time to work your way through your mending or upkeep of your clothes but you’ll enjoy wearing them for more than 1 season.

As you wear your clothes you might decide to add or remove a piece of it because it’s uncomfortable or doesn’t fit well or it might be have been a good idea at the time. In the ‘Wear your clothes’ chapter, Zoe runs through a few ideas to make your clothes really meet your needs.

In the ‘Love your clothes’ section, you’ll again find some basics to store your clothes, keep your clothes clean and then finally transform them through easy dyeing techniques or try some mending embroidery techniques.

Zoe runs through the environmental and social impacts of fast fashion that are hard to visualise and our current fast fashion culture is unsustainable. Zoe has listed the resources that go into these issues in more detail.

This lovely little book has some great techniques and information to ensure we can all take steps to slow down fast fashion one garment at a time. Having a sustainable wardrobe is a personal goal that helps put the brakes on fast fashion.

I borrowed this book from my local library so I’m really thrilled they snapped up Zoe’s book for the community.