The London Lounge

Some of you may have heard of the British Invisible Mending Service Ltd based in South Wales, with a retail location in Marylebone, London. I have a grey herringbone Chesterfield whose outer layer of a sleeve became lunch (1.5 cm) for the creepy crawlies, so I dropped off the coat with them.

I am delighted to say that they did a fantastic job, so much so that I am unable to tell where the spot is, or was. For £50+VAT (cash only), I am a happy customer albeit I must say that I hope that I never have to return!

For those interested, their details can be found at http://www.invisible-mending.co.uk/index.asp. I understand that for those people who are unable to visit their premises, they accept mail-in orders.

I've used them too and think they're excellent (although it was only £40 plus VAT when I last went). I hope they manage to stay in Marylebone HS as rents are rising and old businesses moving out as the area becomes more and more gentrified.

The charge is per hole though so sadly, if the moths have been eating well, it soon ceases to be cost effective.

To contribute to this thread as a reference, I've used French-American Reweaving in New York recently with equally good results on a 10-11 oz Lesser Golden Bale worsted flannel trouser: 119 W. 57th St. (6-7 Aves.) 212-765-4670.

Many people also swear by Without a Trace in Chicago (http://www.withoutatrace.com/index.html). I can't personally attest to their quality, however.

Both firms do a large business by mail.

If good tailoring is on the verge of extinction in many parts of the world, what to mention of craftsmen able to do appropriate invisible mending. This technique is, indeed, very old, but there are some variations. A German book from the thirties describes a “new” technique which seems to differ from the one described at the web site referred to in Shredder’s post. According to the author, although it is “new”, this technique shares with the older one two basic features: it is quite time consume, and requires a lot of dexterity and training to be mastered. This may well account for the price charged.

Wow, what these pictures show are almost too good to be true. It is amazing if someone can really do this. I have to see it to believe it.

I have heard good things about Invisible Menders of Knightsbridge http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1188/27508.php , although I have never used their service.

Yes, it can be done. It's even more impressive on a plain unpatterned cloth.

Back in 1980, I lived briefly in Dallas. There were some Belgian women who had a small shop there called The Highland Park Weave Shop. They did beautiful reweaving and were at that time inexpensive enough that I even had a couple of cotton shirts repaired where laundry equipment had damaged them. Alas, the shop has been gone for several years.

Here is the result. The spot cannot be detected by the naked eye. In fact, I examined the area with a 10x loupe but still couldn't find it.

Any advice for mending in the states?

I had lunch with a friend who inquired about repair to an A&S jacket that fell afoul of something.

I hit a search on the other fora and came up with the following:

French American Reweaving in New York, 119 West 57th Street Room 1406 New York, NY (212) 765-4670. The owner is Ron Moore.

Fashion Award Cleaners, New York, 212.289.5623

Without a Trace, Chicago http://www.withoutatrace.com/

Does anyone have any experience?

DDM

DDM, did you see couch's post above?
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Couch, thanks for the above. DDM