May's Sewing Stories

Kit memories last forever. The more we repair, the longer gear survives. Here are our latest sewing stories about keeping well-loved equipment going strong.

We've been making memories with our clothing and kit for years. And we want to make more. More adventures. More memories. More stories. The more we repair, the longer we can keep kit going. Here's this month's sewing stories.

Baffled by the baffle?

One of our customers popped into our Hathersage store with a burn-related accident. Hol(e)y moly! With two burnt holes in the side of the jacket, the customer wanted a blue fabric patch. Rob took the jacket apart so that he could sew the two blue baffles into place in the middle of the orange section.

Dry bag upgrade

A customer bought a Gourdon from Yardy (that's the upstairs bit of our Hathersage store, where we sell our seconds, photoshoot and development samples so nothing goes to landfill).

The customer wished the bag had an inside pocket so he didn't have to drop his keys and other small items into the bottom of the bag. Repair Hero Jess made a little envelope style zip up wallet. She stitched it to some heat on tape and then heated this inside the bag. This way, the bag didn't have to be stitched through at all, keeping it perfectly waterproof.

Rebuilding a beloved jacket

A very beloved 30-year old jacket got brought into our Keswick store. It wasn't quite good enough for Continuum. But it was a perfect upcycle project for our Keswick repair heroes. They rebuilt both of the underarms and gave the jacket brand new cuffs. They worked on lots of hemming and material patching. Everything was made from donated or old materials. Even better!

Zips, zips, zips

We get some fun projects. We get some proper upcycles. But we also get bog-standard zip repairs. All of our repair stations hold a large stock of zips so we can colour match (or clash, a common request among the climbers of North Wales!).

Custom patches

Betws-y-Coed Repair Hero Ruth's custom patches are pretty popular. It's easy to see why! The customer who inspired her, a keen hill walker, wanted a patch that reminded her of her favourite place to be.

What Now?

If you have any well-loved kit in desperate need of repairing, hand it into any of our eight stores or chat to our lovely repair heroes in Hathersage, Keswick, Edinburgh, Betws-y-Coed, Ilkley and Bristol.