I generally enjoy mending clothing. Some mending projects are creative, some are meditative, some quick and simple because I just want to get my favourite socks back into rotation.

And then there is this one. I’ve been procrastinating about it for at least a year because I just know it’s going to take forever and not be any fun.

This is a cashmere cardigan from a Hong Kong-based clothing brand. I was going to say it’s a favourite cardigan of mine but really by now I pretty much only have favourite cardigans. It’s the first and pretty much only high-end fashion item I ever bought, way back in London, and was the most expensive piece of clothing I owned for a long time. Taking inflation into account, it still might be. I just loved it from the moment I laid my eyes on it.

I’ve patched the elbows and redone the cuffs already but now the bias tape facing is completely worn through, to the point where it looks so shabby and tatty that I can’t wear it among people.

I have more of the silk fabric I used for the cuff facing. And now I’m on vacation and I have the time. So it’s time to get it done.

The problem with the silk I have is that it’s stiff, and expensive. The normal kind of material to use for facing is bias tape, cut on the diagonal, which makes it easier to shape around curves. But buying enough of the silk to cut bias tape from it would be horrendously expensive, so I have to just use normal horizontal strips. Which are being the opposite of supple and flexible here. Stiff as a stick.

And it’s so many tiny stitches. Two and a half metres, I measured the whole facing to. It’s going to take forever.

I’d be willing to throw it out and buy a new one if I could, but they don’t even make this model any more, or anything close to it, so even that isn’t an option. Just grit my teeth and get it done.