by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Sewing is not just for pros. Virtually anyone can pick up a needle and thread and stitch life into worn out items; even children can be capable of this. In our family we learned to do this from a very early age. Just watch those fingers...
Nowadays though we very much live in a culture of new, and that regardless of whether we are talking cell phones or a pair of jeans with a hole in the knee. If something is worn out we are supposed to replace it with a shiny new one, instead of getting it repaired or even repairing it ourselves. Sometimes it feels like folks consider mending and repairing almost quaint when it’s just as easy to hit up a big box store for a replacement.
It does not have to be that way! A needle and thread are your weapons against waste! Let’s arm up and get mending!
On the other hand, in this current recession-cum-depression we are being told by the powers that be that being frugal and such is actually doing the economy harm and it might be that soon frugal folks will be thrown into the same pot with terrorists, and maybe we should be careful talking about weapons in the context of needle and thread, therefore.
The problem with many items though, such as cell phone, computer printers, etc., is that they have obsolescence designed into them on purpose. When ti would cost of GBP 100 to have a GBP 30 printer repaired then there is something not right.
May electrical and electronic items are even constructed thus that no one can actually open the things and repair them. This is a ludicrous state of affairs but this is the way we have been going in the last decades. We must reverse this pronto or we are going to be in deep, deep trouble.
But let us get back to the sewing bit here...
Patch it Up
For smaller rips and tears, you can try mending the hole without a patch. If the hole is a little bigger, though, you’ll probably want to cover it up. Whether you opt to make your own patch out of scrap fabric or buy a pre-made one, patching is an easy way to give a worn pair of jeans or a jacket a new life. In fact patching has become fashionable again and you actually buy jackets with patches on them on the elbows. So, go an patch up that old pair of jeans or that old jacket.
Darn It
If it’s a sock or woven blanket that’s developed a hole, it’s time to get darning. Darning socks, however, is a skill but one worth learning. I must admit though that I still have lots of learning to do in that department.
If you do not know how to darn the Internet is full of instructions and tutorials of how to do it and in some places it is suggested that instead of using a completely matching thread for the darning work to, in fact, use contrasting ones to show off the darned bits.
The Little Things
Mishaps like a ripped seam or missing button are quick fixes. Very quick fixes indeed. A bit like fixing a puncture in a bicycle tire rather than throwing it away and still there are people who do the latter because of a flat tire. Putting in a new zip is a bit of a different story.
Seams are just as easy nearly as replacing a button. To fix a tear that’s at a seam, thread your needle and tie a knot in the opposite end. Just like when you’re darning, you’ll want to start just above the tear to strengthen the fabric a little. Start from the “wrong” side of the fabric, and sew tiny stitches to sort of pull the two pieces of fabric together. You’ll want to sew from just above the tear to just below, then double back. Once you get back to where you started, just tie the loose end of thread to the tail of the knotted end, trim, and voila! It’s like that little rip never happened. This fix works for pretty much any torn seam from your favorite skirt to a chair cushion or pillowcase.
When I was a kid our clothes had patches all over the place, more or less, and often of different materials and colors even. It did not bother us and nor did it bother any of the other children.
In the same league as darning and patching and repairing clothes is drying them on the clothesline rather than using energy in a dryer.
Fair enough there are some places where the weather is not always conducive to drying clothes outside as it rains at times or other problems but... I have seen the drying rooms in apartment blocks in places such as Germany, often in the roof space and that works nicely, thanks. It should be possible to create something like that for ourselves, should it not, such as a drying porch in the yard or such.
Forward into the past is the only way to go in many such things. No, I am not intending to give up computers and all that and neither am I going to ask that of anyone else but there are many things that we are doing today that are so wasteful and stupid, to a degree, that we should take a look at the way our parents and grandparents did certain things. It is not only the Planet that will be grateful for us using such older ways but also our pocketbooks.
© 2009
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Don’t throw it out! Repair it instead!
