Mending log and kit
The pile, one row per item, sorted into hand, machine, tailor or let go, and the mending kit as a checklist. Seeded from the repairs you chose at setup.
For a first pass, the pile is essential: every item sorted into hand, machine, tailor or let go, and at least one marked done (Everyday mending). The kit checklist is quick; the first six items are enough to start.
The pile
One row per item. Plan is how you will repair it; status is your own judgment of whether the plan is settled.
Mending kit
Tick what you have. The first six items are enough for a first button and a first seam.
How to use these sheets
- One item, one row. A shirt with a missing button and a split seam is one row with both in the notes, or two rows if you will do them on different days.
- Plan, then status. Plan is how you intend to repair it. Status says whether that plan is settled: confirmed (you know how and it is worth it), provisional (you will try and see), unresolved (you need to ask someone, such as a tailor, or check the fabric first).
- Let go is a plan. The questions in Everyday mending (how big is the damage, will you wear it, could a tailor do it better) sometimes end there.
The starter rows are Dana's: two loose buttons on her wool coat, to be resewn by hand with a thread shank, and a split underarm seam on a cotton shirt, to be closed by machine. Ruth's pile (trousers to shorten, a torn belt loop, a small hole at a sweater elbow, missing shirt buttons) is the larger case in Everyday mending and Hems.
The log records your plan and what you did. It does not promise a repair will hold; that depends on the fabric and the damage. Alterations beyond hems, zipper replacement in jeans and coats, lined garments, leather and technical rain gear are tailor work in this manual (Everyday mending).