Choice! Vintage darning egg, mushroom, ball, or sock form for sewing, mending, repair. Wood or glass. With or w/o handle. Plain or painted.

In (previous generations of) make-do times, it was common to use a dried out gourd as a darning surface for woolen mends. Since we're guessing most of you haven't set up your gardens with sock repair in mind, we've pulled together a whole bunch of different options to meet this purpose.

Some of these offerings are traditional darning tools. Others are beautiful alternatives and/or budget solutions (no gourds in stock just yet)... it's always good to align one's tools with both form and functional preferences if you plan to spend a goodly amount of time working with them.

Here's a description of each style:

Traditional wooden darning egg w/ handle: the ones you're probably most familiar with - typically a turned wood tool w/ egg shaped form. Typical finishes are clear varnish or black paint. They were also sometimes marketed as darning 'knobs'.

Wooden darning mushroom: another traditional option that can be harder to find without resorting to new ones made in China.

Antique hand-blown glass eggs (2-3") work well not only as darning eggs and bunny basket filler, but also for encouraging backyard chickens to lay their own...

Our smaller, unpainted wooden eggs (roughly 2") are great for traveling kits, detail work, and kid-sized hands. New old stock.

Darning balls are just that: smooth wooden orbs, usually around 2-3", intended for facilitating mends. Broader than an egg, slightly rounder than a mushroom, and no handle. The most beautiful ones feature multiple woods and/or the patina of time...

Hand-painted wooden pysanky eggs are traditionally a Ukrainian Easter decoration. We took it upon ourselves to find some attractive vintage ones that might add an extra pop of color to your textile repair efforts.

Sock Forms are shaped to fit a typical stocking from toe-to-arch, somewhat flat with a rounded handle.

Any will do: while we stock specific styles of darning forms we sometimes stumble onto other types that work well... and, depending on when you order, we may just have a bunch of a certain size on hand. Either way, when you choose this option, we'll happily reward your flexibility with a lower price point.

We hope that this approach will make it easy for you to find what you want at a price that works.

Regardless, happy mending (and be sure to check out some of our other mending supplies while you're here).