DIY Life

I want to give a big shout out to Arounna Khounnoraj of Bookhou today.

Khounnoraj is multi-disciplinary artist, teacher and author. You should definitely visit the store she runs with her husband furniture designer John Booth if you are looking for distinctive hand crafted gifts. But the reason I wanted to write about Arounna today is because she has provided the push I needed to take on repair projects over the pandemic.

Just tonight I finally got around to replacing the buttons and depilling the vintage Mary Maxim fishing sweater I bought last summer. Following Khounnoraj’s instagram gave me the confidence to attempt visible mending techniques. As you can see here, I had fun using dark green thread to attach the new buttons. I’ve also patched Mr. Andrew’s jeans with Boro stiching and I’ve darned many sweaters and socks with conrasting yarn.

I find the process contemplative. I feel like mending shows respect for clothes that have served me well. And lets face it, when you find a garment that fits you to a T, you want to make it last forever (hence the dull but necessary depilling process).

Bookhou offers all kinds of repaid tools and online workshops through the website. If you ate looking to learn a new craft (like making the punch needle mules pictured above), there are also kits and courses for that as well.