Invisible Wool Mend – Vintage Embroidery And Sewing Techniques Part 8

Invisible Wool Mend - Vintage Embroidery And Sewing Techniques Part 8

In 1950-2 my grandmother, a dressmaker, made three invisible wool mending samplers.

1950s invisible wool mend-7

The first sampler is thin plaid wool fabric with three different mends.

1950s invisible wool mending

The first patch is sewn between the stripes, so the seams are hardly noticeable.

1950s invisible plaid wool mend

The second patch goes across the stripes.

vintage wool mending
Handsewn buttonhole -> more about 1950s handsewn buttonholes

The third patch is the placket of the sampler.

1950s invisible wool mend back view
Wrong side of patch 1

Because the wool fabric frays, all the raw edges are finished with tiny buttonhole stitches by hand.

vintage hand buttonhole stitches
Close-up of buttonhole stitches
vintage invisible wool mend wrong side
Close-up of patch, wrong side
vintage invisible wool mending
Wrong side of patch  2 and 3
vintage invisible wool placket mend
Patch 3: The placket

To make the placket, a new piece of fabric is added. On the right side, it’s joined with a seam; on the wrong side, the fabric pieces are joined with hand-sewn buttonhole stitches.

1950s invisible wool placket mend
The invisible placket patch
vintage invisible placket mend wrong side
Buttonhole stitches, wrong side of patch 3

invisible wool mend

Sampler 2 is also a thin, but solid colored wool fabric with a triangle and a square patch.

invisible wool mend back view

The raw edges are also finished with hand-worked buttonhole stitches.

invisible wool mend buttonhole stitches by hand
Back view of patch with buttonhole stitches

invisible boiled wool mend

The third sampler is thick boiled wool fabric with two patches.

invisible felte wool mend

Because the fabric doesn’t fray, the edges are left unfinished.

 

Here’s part 7 and part 9 of my Vintage Embroidery And Sewing Techniques Series.

2 thoughts on “Invisible Wool Mend – Vintage Embroidery And Sewing Techniques Part 8

  1. What a treasure to have this sampler that your grandmother made. In the first sample you’d have to look really close to even know that it had been patched. And in the other ones, they are so neatly done that one could mistake them for design elements.

    So glad you linked this up to last week’s Stitchery Link Party.

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