Mend My Dress

Mend My Dress is a perzine by Neely Bat Chestnut from Tacoma, Washington. Each issue is themed (ie. about her grandma, about leporiphobia, a fear of rabbits, etc). Neely Bat Chestnut is also the author of Dear Stepdad and the split Grit and Glitter with Hazel Pine. Her zines cover issues ranging from incest, self-harm, the riot grrrl movement, feminism, friendship, fairytale, and healing as she reflects on her childhood and coming-of-age. Her work is carried by Stranger Danger, Fight Boredom, Ms. Valerie Park, and Doris, to name a few.

Neely started writing Mend My Dress in 2005 and put out 6 issues of Mend My Dress, plus various one-of zines through 2007. In 2011 she started a series of one page mailer zines, written in newsletter form, has thus far completed 8 editions, and there is no foreseeable end in sight.

The early issues of Mend My Dress have recently been compiled into a book anthology book anthology, and the Mend My Dress name has expanded into a publishing venture between Neely Bat Chestnut and Miss C. Bean.

Ms Valerie Park Distro says the following about Neely's recent anthology: A beautiful collection of the first six (long out of print) issues of Mend My Dress- a zine that for years has been constantly impressive in its openness and strength. Seeing it in this form puts into perspective how great it is. It’s also one of the best laid out and cleanest zine collections in book form that I have seen. “Mend My Dress offers a complex, nuanced, and skillfully constructed picture of multifarious girlhood vulnerability. Althought Chestnut writes in a diary-like, stream of consciousness style, her work should not be misinterpreted as simple autobiography; instead, it offers artistic and literary mediation.” – Alison Piepmeier; author of ‘Girl Zines’.