make + mend.

a collection of gifts to offer or use.

Paint a picture, darn some socks, sew a patch, and if you’d like, peruse a dozen practical pals to aid in mending and making.

1. Something to guide you. Is it wrong to include my own book in a gift guide? Couldn’t be! Making Things is an all-weather companion for anyone needing the confidence to dive right into making something. Rose and I included more than 120 projects to serve as jumping off points for simple projects, but also for the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment that comes with making things ourselves. Don’t just take my word for it. JSF writes: “This book teaches the reader how to make all kinds of beautiful things, but also how to make meaning. It is an antidote to the alienation created by a life of screens, reminding us that we have bodies, and preferences, and are more able than we've grown to believe.”

2. + 3. Somethings to mend with. Darning thread and long darners for anyone ready to finally tackle the toes on those favorite socks. I love to fix one thing for my kids every year and place it under the tree for them to find all patched up and ready for action.

4. Something to patch with. This grab bag of assorted colorful patches from Ace and Jig is so appealing you might actually start looking for things to patch. Willy-nilly patch parties, for yieu and yieu and yieu.

5. Something to scrub with. A very good stain stick from the real laundry royalty. Excellent for reviving your favorite pizza grease-splattered tee.

6. Something to snip with. Designed exclusively for Tatter in royal blue with the word cloth etched right into the blade, there’s no way anyone’s gonna mistake the good fabric scissors for the cardboard scissors with these around.

7. Something to learn from. If mending is not already in your wheelhouse, Katrina Rodabaugh, writer of very excellent mending books and all around mending genius is here to teach you everything you need to know with this interactive five week mending course.

8. Something to keep in mind. A very good daily reminder for posting somewhere everyone in the fam can read it.

9. Something to imagine. For when the woes of late-stage capitalism threaten to ruin your holiday, it’s a very good time indeed to imagine a whole new way of doing business.

10. + 11. Somethings to paint with. An exquisite paint palette and three little brushes so that you can have yourself a merry little paint whenever and wherever the mood strikes.

12. Something to slice with. Very good for making cardboard crafts, slicing open boxes, and generally being the handiest person in the room, nothing beats this classic utility knife.

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Where applicable or possible, I use affiliate links because that’s a small way I can generate additional income from my work in this place. I don’t include affiliate links for brands that I don’t think are worthy of your dollars and I don’t exclude brands that I do think are worthy of your dollars just because they don’t have an affiliate program.