JOURNALS AND NOTEBOOKS
You can buy printed reproductions of my hand-painted watercolor and ink Nature Observation Journals and Composition Notebooks on Amazon!
I’m fixing my dad’s “Fixin’ Things Hat” with some old scrap denim and a little visible mending!
My dad wears this hat whenever he’s working on projects around the house, and after years of “fixin’ things,” the hat itself was in serious need of some fixing. The back was badly worn and no longer providing much protection from the sun, so I asked him if I could repair it.
I started by giving the hat a good cleaning with enzyme cleaner, then used some old scrap jean material I had on hand to patch and reinforce the worn-out areas. This isn’t about making the hat look brand new—it’s about making something useful functional again and keeping it out of the landfill.
For generations, people repaired and mended their clothing and household goods because replacing things wasn't always cheap or easy. As industrialization, mass production, and globalized manufacturing made consumer goods much cheaper, it became increasingly common to replace worn-out items instead of repairing them. Today, repairing something can sometimes cost more than simply buying a replacement, while the environmental and human costs of cheap manufacturing aren't always reflected in the price we pay.
That’s one reason I love visible mending and sewing with scrap fabric. Repairing, upcycling, repurposing, and reusing the things we already have can keep useful items out of the trash—and sometimes I think we end up loving those things even more because we’ve given them a little more life.
In this video, I’m sharing my dad’s hat repair, visible mending process, and why I think learning how to mend and repair our belongings is such a valuable skill.
Hi, I’m Kristen!
I envision a world where you and I rediscover what it is to be human, through connection with ourselves, each other and the natural world around us.