Mend it – limited-edition upcycled mending yarn

Turn your mending into art with this gorgeous, upcycled mending yarn made from preloved knitwear, perfect for darning and embroidery. It’s environmentally friendly and a joy to use, and the colour changes add a fun surprise element to your mending.

Lani from Notanotherhat gently unravels high-quality natural-fibre garments and hand dyes the yarn using professional, colourfast, Australian dyes, then winds it onto cards. Due to the handmade, limited-edition nature of these yarns, once each dye lot is gone, it’s gone.

Each card supplies 6-20 metres of yarn, depending on its thickness and fibre type. The yarns I’ve selected for modernmending.com are mostly on the thin side – ideal for darning or embroidering thin, machine-knit garments. Some names include information about yarn thickness but most do not. If you're after a particular thickness for a specific mending project, let me know (either with a note at checkout or email to elf@modernmending.com) and I'll let you know what's available at the moment.

Each card is unique, with slight variations within each dye lot; images shown here are representative only of colour ranges.

Overwhelmed by all the colour choices? Select one or more 'ELF's choice' cards and I’ll pick for you from my collection (including cards not shown here that are literally one-of-a-kind).

Or take a calculated risk with a lucky dip! Each "lucky dip" batch is made from one upcycled garment and dye session. The colours are unpredictable, depending on how Lani waved her magic wand that day, but the thickness and fibre content are consistent, so all cards in a batch will complement each other beautifully.

Mend-it yarn is salvaged and hand-dyed in Melbourne, Australia, from assorted fibres and wound on cardstock. Unless fibre content is specified in the name, mending yarn might be made from wool, alpaca, angora, cashmere, silk and/or nylon blends. 

NOTE: For best results, hand wash mended items separately in cold water with wool wash, minimising agitation, and dry flat out of direct sunlight. Some shades may lose colour in the first couple of washes, due to excess dye that has not been 'exhausted' into the yarn. It will not affect the look of the yarn or fade the colour over time, but may contaminate other items washed with it.

Want to see how it’s done? Modern Mending the book includes 32 pages of darning instructions and 18 pages of hand-stitching instructions, with photographs and illustrated diagrams.

Weekly dispatch

This shop dispatches orders once a week so I can do alllll the things – including running this shop and running after two tiny tots – and enjoy my life. Your patience and understanding are greatly appreciated.

Shipping carrier

I ship via Australia Post. If you select Express Post at checkout, it will speed up Australia Post's delivery timeframe but won't speed up my process.

After your order has been packed, you will receive an email notification with your Australia Post tracking number, which you can use to check on the delivery status of your order.

International customers: click here for current Australia Post international delivery timeframes.

Shipping fees

Shipping is currently a flat rate of $12 within Australia ($17 Express Post); international shipping is calculated at checkout. Gift vouchers are delivered electronically and do not require shipping.

International shipping

I ship worldwide with the exception of the UK, due to VAT regulations that came into effect on 1 January 2021. If you are in the UK you can order the UK edition of my book from your local bookshop.

Local delivery

Customers in Northcote, Thornbury and nearby suburbs (subject to capacity) can select local delivery at checkout. Local delivery is extra-slow and coincides with my pram-walking / kid-wrangling schedule, up to one week after purchase.
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I choose to reuse

When shipping orders my first priority is to reuse packaging materials whenever possible – boxes, padded mailers, cardboard, paper, tissue paper, bubble wrap and egg cartons from neighbours, second-hand shops and recycling centres. I cannot guarantee the materials used to ship your order will be plastic-free for this reason.

I buy recycled packaging

If I don’t have suitable second-hand packaging to use for your order, my next priority is packaging made from recycled materials. It's important to me to support Australian companies making good products from our recyclables, and to make sure that material gets a second life.

Tape

I use compostable, gummed kraft-paper tape to seal my parcels whenever possible. I have a second-hand tape wetter that I love, purchased from my local op shop. Gummed paper tape is available at most art-supply shops if you want to make the switch yourself!

Express Post orders will have official plastic "Express Post" tape added.

International orders will have a plastic pocket taped to them, to accommodate paperwork required by customs.

Individual product packaging

Every item for sale on this website has its packaging components listed and in most cases photographed, so you can make an informed decision.

Upstream packaging

When I speak to my suppliers I specifically ask that my orders be supplied to me without plastic packaging, whenever possible, to avoid waste and single-use plastic. This isn’t always possible, but I’ll keep asking, forever.

Here's how one of my suppliers has my name recorded in its database: