A new book shares the expert insights and practical guidance of Janelle Hanna—circular fashion consultant, denim specialist, and founder of White Weft—offering inspiration and know-how to DIY enthusiasts and aspiring upcyclers alike.
“Jean Genius: Repair, Restyle and Repurpose Your Denim” from Skittledog Publishing is a 160-page paperback that serves as a creative blueprint to help consumers give jeans a new lease of life. Packed practical tutorials, tool tips and ideas drawing from Hanna’s experience the paperback teaches sewers of all levels a range of genius jean repair, repurpose and restyling skills.
Related Stories
The idea for the book arrived in Hanna’s inbox. “Late one Friday afternoon, my inbox pinged,” she recalled. “For a change it wasn’t from someone offering to buy my business or quadruple my socials reach, but a publisher with a simple question: would I be interested in authoring a book on denim repair and upcycling?”
Hanna replied instantly and began work on the book in early 2024. “From the start we were very aligned on the book that we wanted to write—an accessible how-to guide for jeans lovers everywhere who can’t bear to part with their favorite pair,” she said.
Start to finish, it took Hanna a year to nail down the 18 step-by-step repair and upcycling projects in the book. The book covers pocket, knee, crotch and belt loop repair techniques, taking in and expanding the waist, hemming, adjusting leg widths, transforming jeans to shorts and skirts, splicing. Readers will also learn how to repurpose existing garments into new items such as hats, bags, slippers and other patchwork pieces.
“People think that denim is a tricky fabric to sew but it’s quite forgiving. Things might go wrong but you can easily unpick and start again,” she said, adding that a common misconception about DIY-ing is that you need industrial machines. “Probably because too many of us have at some point broken a sewing machine needle in denim and that feels quite catastrophic and intimidating but most of the time you just need a different needle or a few tricks to get around the thickest areas.”
Through White Weft, Hanna provides design consulting services, upcycling support and denim repair for brands and individuals. She’s become master at invisible darning after acquiring a darning machine from a business opposite her studio. However, her favorite projects are creative repairs where she can use her denim design skill set on commissions for brands and individuals.
White Weft is Hanna’s vision of what future business models for jean companies should look like—where brands and designers utilize old denim as they do with new denim. “I’ve realized that no amount of innovation could realistically be enough to lower our impact in line with climate targets unless we decreased production and kept the clothing we have in use for longer,” she said.
The book reflects this philosophy. “It explains to the average person why it’s so important to choose your denim well, explaining in simple terms the ins and outs of denim production. It gives them skills and confidence to try creative denim projects at home,” she said.
This article was published in SJ Denim’s fall issue. Click here to read more.
