Visible Mending?

I recently starting following the #visiblemending hashtag on Instagram, and am currently filled with inspiration! I’ve been thinking about replacing this jumper for a long time (I’ve been wearing it for more than twenty years), but now I’m wondering whether I might just buy a ball of wool and re-knit the cuffs instead. The rest of the jumper’s fine!  Although in the spirit of visible mending, and also using what I have, perhaps it would be even better to have a rummage through my box of odds and ends, find something in the right weight, and replace the cuffs with that.

My jeans are going to need repairing pretty soon as well. When I bought my Monkee Genes I deliberately chose the longer length, despite being a short person, so that when they inevitably needed mending I could chop a couple of inches off the hems and use it to patch the knees. As it happens, they haven’t yet worn out at the knees, and I actually rather like wearing them turned up. The place where they are starting to wear out, which is on the thighs, also needs more fabric than I can scavenge from the turn-ups, so I need another solution. 

I did think about going to a charity shop and buying a sacrifical pair of jeans, that could live in the sewing pile and be used to make patches until my Monkee Genes have worn out completely. And then I thought, again, that I have miles and miles of fabric in my stash, so why not use some of that? 

What I’d quite like to use is some Liberty print cotton, as I have quite a few rather small pieces. Even though it’s very fine, the Tana Lawn is a very closely woven fabric, so with a bit of something plain layered up behind it, it should actually make quite a serviceable patch.

But… given the nature of the floral prints… and given the nature of the area that needs patching… is it going to look as though there’s been some kind of disaster in the underwear department, if I patch the thighs of my jeans with Liberty lawn? I might have to loosely tack some pieces on, and see what I think!