Mending Used to Be Normal
An incomplete list of fiction that casually mentions darning, patching, or otherwise repairing clothing and textiles, or where characters explicitly wear mended garments. I'm gonna be real with you, the number of books I've discovered mending in is so large I can't remember them all, so expect this list to grow as I continue to read and re/discover.
Suggestions welcome!
Wanna mend your own clothes? Check out my nonfiction list Opting Out of Fast Fashion! 🙂
created by teddydee
last updated July, 2026
Comments
Love a list about mending in literature! Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater is one of my fave books with mending in it 🪡
teddydeeOP
Cool, I'll add it! Thank you :)
I'm currently re-reading 1984 by George Orwell and they mention mending and darning. Although it's to underline how bad everything is and not really mentioned in a neutral context unfortunately 🥲
Well, I've got The City of Ember on here, so what the heck. Thank you!
Edit: one could say these are examples of a fictional return to earlier frugality after the bubble of capitalist abundance bursts?
