Make Do and Mend

What about a thread with some ideas? The older ones amongst us must have some cracking ideas from their parents/grandparents. I`ll start of


Quick wrist warmers cut the toes off the odd sock that gets left behind instant warmers, if you need it for longer, a quick blanket stitch round the cut off bit.

Holey or stained shirt cut out the back, make a hem along the top sew some tape to the corners, - apron.

Will see how this goes & if it works I will think of some more.

A friend of mine saves old, worn-out pillowcases, and uses them as super-soft hankies whenever she has a bad cold.

It used to be fairly common to "turn sheets" - when they were getting worn in the middle, cut the sheet in half lengthways, then stitch the good sides together to form a new middle.

Thinking about it, mending (with regard to clothes) was once one of those ever-present chores like washing up. Yet no-one seems to mend anything any more...

I mends I do

I most certainly mend, although I have to admit to not bothering to darn socks unless they're nice handknitted ones.

Mrs C

I mends too I darn socks, turn sheets sides to middle and turn shirt collars.

I mend, turn stuff, make things out of other things ...etc...and if all else fails I either recycle it, use it as rags or use it for a craft project

I have just been showing CG ( aged 9) how to hem by hand...she had a creditable go, herself, and sewed on a button...

I am astonished at the things some friiends throw away, for the sake of a very small bit of mending or altering...I have mended stuff for them, before now....!

I remember when Sparhawk was a toddler he needed a dressing gown very pricey for something that he waould grow out of quickly so I found an old jumper, cut it up the front, blanket stitched it, did the same with the sleeves & bottom made a red twisted cord the thing lasted for him & his 2 brothers, & I did one for a friend as well.

Old sheets also make good pillow cases.

Odd socks make good puppets if you have little ones

Balanophage wrote: Yet no-one seems to mend anything any more...

I should've known better than to say that on this forum! It's encouraging to see other people preserving stuff rather than throwing it away - I resent chucking anything if it's got life left in it.

I do understand why mending's fallen out of favour generally, because if you don't have the skills it takes so long... (the answer to that being practice, obviously!) I remember darning a tunic at a Vike show and it took hours. And yet even there, most people wouldn't dream of having obviously mended/darned/patched kit, even though it would be far more authentic.

polgara wrote: blanket stitched it, did the same with the sleeves & bottom

people want smacking banned - what about banning blanket stiching babies bottoms...

Like previous posters I mend and also use worn-out or damaged clothing/bed linen into other things. When we nearly had a bed fire due to a damaged electric blanket, I cut out the charred portions of a duvet, a quilt and the duvet cover and patched them carefully. The duvet cover ended up downsizing to a single and two pillowcases . . . I''ve just turned a patched old bolster pillowcase into two ordinary sized ones, and the lawn cotton is SO lovely to use.

I also take pleasure in restoring damaged but still beautiful embroidered tablecloths etc. One I am working on (carefully darning) is pretty bad but I would think late Victorian and much-loved/used and I have got some long fine darning needles (from an old lady's stash which I found at auction for just £2) and hope I can bring the life back into it again.

My eldest daughter is pretty nifty too and just turned a voluminous dress found at a charity shop into a smaller one, plus leftovers to use elsewhere, using a gifted sewing machine which only sews backwards!

I mend smallish boo boos... I'm more likely to re-purpose things, though. Like making rugs and placemats from old sheets, purses from old jeans, doing a little Russian needle punch on an old piece of cloth harvested to patch something else, or using old bits of really worn flannel as hankies.

Aberlemno wish I could do the embroidery thing, but eyes not good enough for that. Sewing I have done lots of makeovers over the years with a lot of satisfaction. I can darn I even have my mother`s "mushroom" still. Always fancied a go at a rag rug at sometime
Pol

Old sheets also make pads for the ironong board.

Did you know that if you store a bar of soap for at least several weeks it lasts longer when you use it. Open & put it in a drawer (the wooden type where you keep clothes) and it makes the things smell nice. as well.

Also put tights or stockings in the freezer for an hour & they don`t ladder so quickly.

Old net curtains as fruit protectors, or over the brasicas.
Tights as plant ties.
Pol

I mend as much as I can if not I'll send it to get mended if I can't do it myself.
Now my DD2 told me that the zip on her jeans had broken and she was going to throw them out I asked her to bring them up to me, which she did,
now one quick snip and a stitch and she had a pair of jean again.

The life of a double sheet.

Turn into single sheets
then into cot sheets
then into pillowcases
then into tea towels
then into cleaning cloths
at the end of this if they are cotton, into the compost heap

The Life of a pair of jeans/cotton trousers

Cut off at the knee & make 2 bottle bags for those bottles of wine.

Wear shorts if the b*m is intact.

If not make bags & purses out the rest, decorate as required.

Cotton trousers work just as well for this.

Worn patch at the back, sew on a motiff also good with a skirt.

Stain on favourite T shirt either a patch or some fabric crayons.


Take a bored child, a cheapo T shirt some fabric crayons & go cook the dinner!! Result, peace & quiet & a designer shirt.

If you cut the elasticy top off from a pair of tights it makes a good soft tie for young fruit trees - it doesn't harm the bark when you tie it to the stake.

Got old boots or shoes, they make good plant holders, just make a drainage hole somewhere, ideal size for herbs if you only have a tiny garden.

Hide them in your garden or allotments as habitats.

OOOh I am loving this thread, brilliant way to share ideas, keep em coming! I definitely do the shorts thing with jeans although I made a mistake last summer and did it to ALL my old jeans so I had no jeans for winter
I recently made Gulliver a vest out of a jumper that had been shrunk in the wash, just cut the sleeves off and ta-da!

Good one!!

ooh and I have turned the sleeves into a lovely pair of woollen gloves!

That`s the way to go, use as much as you can.

I have used a couple of unwanted tea towels to make a lovely pair of play pants for Ruby (they were not the most absorbent tea towels)