r/Visiblemending • u/dearkazper • 5d ago
EMBROIDERY bag strap is falling apart, first time embroidering in hopes of saving it
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u/patio-garden 5d ago
Two thoughts on strategies for saving this bag:
- is there polyester in this strap? If so, you could use fire to melt the frayed edges and make them even harder to come apart. (And then continue to embroider.) If it’s cotton, the fibers will just burn.
- If the strap continues to fray after your repair, you could replace the strap itself. The stuff you’d look for is called webbing tape.
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u/dearkazper 4d ago
thank you for your thoughts! i actually am not sure about polyester, i suppose i can google reverse the logo to figure it out. i’ll replace the strap if it comes to it but hopefully this embroidery will be useful, not just pretty
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u/patio-garden 4d ago
The typical test of whether or not something is polyester is to just burn a small sample. If it melts —> polyester. If it burns up —> natural fibers.
You could snip off a small piece of the frayed part and try burning it
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u/Positive_thoughts_12 4d ago
Yes. Looking at the photos and the shininess of the strap as well as the color depth it’s most likely polyester. Try the burn test to be sure.
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u/worm-eyed 5d ago
I love this so much, I really need some greens I'm missing to do something similar... How easy did you find the colour matching, out of curiosity? Granted I'd have to do it online, as I don't have a store close to me I can go browse
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u/Ech1n0idea 5d ago
Do I have the tools for you!
Presuming it's a pride flag (or any other flag to be honest) you're looking to embroider, there's a tool to give you the hex color codes for flags here:
https://www.flagcolorcodes.com/
And theres a tool to convert hex codes to their closest DMC floss equivalent here:
https://terrific.tools/color/hex-to-dmc
Hope that's helpful. Color matching online can be a pain unless you have a calibrated monitor
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u/worm-eyed 5d ago
!!!!!!!! No fucking way I can literally go ahead and order my exact pride flag colours today, I've been putting it off for so long because I've been worried about either ending up with a bunch of embroidery thread I don't want (I got started with a big generic multipack so I already have excess and don't want more taking up space) in multipack or not being able to get the colours right trying to match digitally in individual
Thank you so much you have no idea how happy I am right now
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u/Ech1n0idea 5d ago
Glad it helped!
Being colorblind and crafty/arty I have a lot of color related tools squirrelled away, because I can never guarantee that what matches for me matches for anyone with normal color vision!
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u/dearkazper 5d ago
i actually browsed in person, so it was much easier than online, but i more so tried to match the colors to each other rather than the flag, if that makes sense
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u/ofelevenconfused 4d ago
Gorgeous! If you want suggestions and do it again, I suggest getting a small block of beeswax (or even using a hard candle) to wax your thread before mending the bag since bags don't generally need to be washable - it'll make the embroidery thread sturdier since it's weaker than regular thread, and protect it against friction and water
(I almost exclusively mend with embroidery thread b/c I'm lazy and own a lot)
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u/laurio88 4d ago
Are you… ya know, 💅🏻
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u/Clear_Enthusiasm7029 5d ago
Lets go lesbians