A Book of Invisible Mending Samples: Student Work

early twentieth century
when closed: 5" x 4 3/4" x 1/2", 13 cm x 12 cm x 1.5 cm

This small treasure is an album of samples of invisible mending, undoubtedly the work of a young woman or girl who was tasked to create this book to collect the work that was achieved in a stitching class.

In the book there are eleven samples, each of which shows very subtle mending techniques in practice.

For example, the lead photo has a seam running up and down in the middle of the fragment. On the detail of the sample of cloth showing printed violets, if you look closely, you can see the way stitching was used to hold a patch to the cloth. 

There are other examples, too where the mending is almost impossible to see. Incidentally, the stitch used to affix the sample to the page is meant to be a pair of pine needles.

Written on the back cover we can see the name of the girl was Ogawa and there are notes as to which class she was in.

This is a real treasure, a real-life record of what was considered "women's work"--and in light of the interest today in invisible and visible mending, this certainly is good for an interested person's archive.

Recommended.