I ripped my spring/autumn coat some months ago. A fold of fabric literally got caught on the end of a door handle and I kept walking and tore a great big L-shaped hole in it. (This fabric looks pretty and feels nice but is way too flimsy for a coat; it’s already wearing thin around the edges of the buttons as well.)

Now I’ve finally mended that rip and I’m quite pleased with the result. The two arms of the L were easy but I couldn’t come up with a good solution for the corner. In the end I just sort of fudged it, which is luckily not too noticeable.

I learned this stitch from a book. They called it the paratrooper’s stitch, recommended it for field repairs of tents and such and demonstrated it on heavy duty canvas. I think it worked pretty nicely for this case as well.

There are books about mending things. I own three.

At what point does something I like doing become a hobby? When I start buying books about it, maybe?