Delicate Darning

 

The pashmina from my previous post needed some TLC. It had worn through in a large area with the weave getting thin enough for holes to emerge. It had been in a cupboard for a number of years but a recent college project on mending and repair, including the increasing practice of visible mending, made me think about trying to rescue it.

Rafoogari is the Indian art of invisibly mending fine fabrics including pashminas, either by patching or by using threads from the item to re-weave the fabric (ref. 1). I possess neither skill and so my approach to repair was a bit more basic or 'naive'...

I added some structure to the fabric before starting by tacking some water soluble fabric in place. The ends of the pashmina had become straggly due to washing so I chopped off a few inches from one end to provide patches which were applied over the very worn areas (an approach I hadn't considered before reading about rafoogari). I then worked over the area in a couple of different cashmere and lambswool threads to provide a stable base. I stitched over the area in blocks and circles in wool and silk threads that I had available, working in a limited, complementary palette of colours. 

The original fabric is soft and light and warm. The darning has changed the nature of this area of the shawl - it is heavier, denser and textured but still soft enough to fold and fall in a similar way to the original weave. Whilst the mending was not intended to be invisible, the change in the nature of the fabric links back to a theme that emerged whilst researching my previous college project around repair and mending. No matter how invisible the repair, there is always some change to the original item. Similar to mending of an injury, there is some lingering difference.

The repair has changed not just the material feel of the fabric but as discussed by artists and writers including Bridget Harvey and Celia Pym (ref. 2 & 3), it also changes our relationship to the item through the time spent mending it and contemplating why it is worth mending. Investing the time in the repair is recognising the value of the item - the financial investment and the resources and skills involved in making it(see previous post). There is a need to maximise the life of valued items and the materials that they are made from. 

References
1 https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/indias-dying-art-of-rafoogari--healing-agents-who-weave-poetry-and-metaphors-into-fabrics-1.62944462
2 Harvey, B. (2020) Repair-Making: Craft, Narratives, Activism. [Online]. Available at: https://bridgetharvey.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/bridget-harvey-pHd-thesis-repair-making-2020.pdf. [Accessed 07 Nov 2022]
3 Pym, C. (2022) On Mending: Stories of damage and repair. UK: Quickthorn Books.