| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| sally_in_wales |
DarningJust spent the morning darning a World War Two blanket for someone, (bit of a family heirloom with a romantic story attached from what I could gather), poor thing was full of moth holes- and I'd forgotten just how therapeutic a nice bit of plain darning could be. Had awful trouble matching the yarn colour for this and had to decide on a slightly different shade in the end, but by chance I did track down in my travels some original wartime issue darning needles, so it was fun to be able to use the 'right' needle for the job, even though fundamentally there isn't much difference between needles 60 years ago and those today (think the older ones were better quality than those I've had recently though).What was really nice though was starting with something that's seen 60 years of wear and tear and ending up with something perfectly fit to be put back into active use 
|
||||
| Frewen Feltmaker |
That's lovely 
|
||||
| sally_in_wales |
Just goes to show that its worth doing a bit of mending sometimes, doesn't really take long and its amazing how something that you thought was almost not worth saving is suddenly ok again 
|
||||
| lottie |
We've got an old blanket from my M.I.L. that still has the curtain tape on from when it was used as a blackout curtain.
|
||||
| colour it green |
I'm not very good at darning.. I know in principal how to do it.. just it always comes out.. lumpy....
is there an article on how to darn? (she says with a winning smile) |
||||
| mochyn |
Re: Darning
Or active service? Well done: nice to see someone else out there darning. Don't mind darning flat but not too good at doing socks. How about doing some at the weekend? |
||||
| sally_in_wales |
Re: Darning
happily, I'll dig out the darning mushroom
|
||||
| Belinda |
There is a terrific fairly recent book called Make Do and Mend, which is a reissue of original wartime thrift leaflets. It's published by Michael O'Mara books www.mombooks.com and is about £9.99. It was in all the bookshops last Christmas as a 'nostalgia book' but is full of very practical advice, including more than anyone could possibly need to know about darning. |
||||
| Chez |
Darning always makes me think of my granny - she taught me to darn and was an 'invisible mender' at Foxes cloth factory in Somerset before the First World War - her darning literally WAS 'invisible' in most cases.
In the world wars, Foxes made blankets - we have Boer War ones, 1914-18 ones and 1939-45 ones. All part of history. |
||||
| lottie |
got it and the companion book eating for victory my kids choose good pressies 
|
||||
| Slim |
not exactly darning, but you've reminded me to set aside some time to patch my work pants and shorts before I start mooning my fellow workers accidentally... | ||||
| Nell |
What was really nice though was starting with something that's seen 60 years of wear and tear and ending up with something perfectly fit to be put back into active use
i felt like that picking my dad up from hospital. 
i love repairing old vintage clothes. such fun and the romantic in me lets my imagination run riot over their previous life |
||||
| colour it green |
oh thanks for that. |
||||
| Bugs |
I found this lurking in The Works today, along with the sister title Eating for Victory, £2.99 each, in case it's any help to anyone? I may have had a small accident involving both titles and a ten pound note myself  - I am already considering the prospect of reinforcing underwear  but there's a bit already about "predarning" knitted socks (toe and heel) which I had always wondered about, and plan to try out on my next pair before I actually have another go at properly darning something the moths got at.
|
||||
| lottie |
I used to darn socks regularly many years ago---then ordinary socks just got so much cheaper I stopped ---but I still darn boot type socks.
|
||||
| Bugs |
Yes, I'm only going to try it with our collection of exactly 3.5* pairs of hand knitted socks, though I stumbled at the first attempt and wound up saying rude things about thread. As you say day-to-day stuff seems hardly worth it and I'm also nervous about making them wearable as they are such fine fabric compared to my limited sewing skills.
*I intend to round this up to a whole number once I have finished battling with the remains of one of Rob R's sheep. |
||||
| Bugs |
Just in case anyone else is interested I came across a "sock protection" article on Knitty today:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer08/FEATsum08TT.html "...since socks are a significant investment of time and energy - about 34,000 stitches in an average pair of adult socks made in sock-weight yarn - we naturally want them to stay whole and in good condition for as long as possible. Fortunately there are many ways to encourage your socks to hold up well over time..." I actually would like to try duplicate stitch for both "pre" and "firefighting" darning, but might start off with the simpler technique first having read this. |
||||
| sally_in_wales |
duplicate stitch is particularly easy if you have socks that have almost but not quite worn through, the weak stitches make it easy to 'trace' your route for the new work | ||||
| Bugs |
The problem with my small number of home made socks is that the moths got there first  so there are very definite holeses. I tried the method with putting in thin, "sewing cotton" threads to work the d. stitch around but it all went horribly wrong. Will definitely attempt the d.s. when they start t wear though. Would that work just as well as a "protection", do you think?
|
||||
| sally_in_wales |
yep, working over the areas that tend to wear through is a good thing to do. In my opinion, the more clashing the colours the better it works
|
||||
| Samantha |
You've made me check the darning mushroom is still in granny's workbox - it is. In the 70s Granny and I would sit on a Saturday night darning socks for the whole family - heaven.
I wonder if DH has any that need a quick darn. |
||||
| lottie |
Darning is very relaxing |