I found a little annoying about tried to fix the npc clothes up, because anytime you have to undress them first, before you can fix the clothes, can’t we just fix their clothes directly?
Currently, you can only fix things in your inventory.
Fixing things in an NPC’s inventory is problematic, because the NPC could move around, stop being friendly, or die while you’re fixing it. Two of those aren’t even possible when you’re fixing something, and the third handles itself, so the code makes some simplifying assumptions about where an event is happening.
I think it’s possible to get around those issues, but it’s not as simple as flipping a switch.
Perhaps NPCs could be made to fix their own clothing? Either automatically (with a toggle through conversation) or upon command?
If they have the materials available, the clothing item falls below a certain %, and the NPC has enough skill that they are considerably more likely to repair the item than to break it, that is.
Although I support the idea of getting NPCs to do their own stuff, that’s a different non-trivial fix.
In the short term, making it an option in the NPC examine menu might be possible. You can already apply bandages to NPCs, so this would be apply a sewing kit and select an item in the NPC’s inventory. But I haven’t looked it.