I know it’s a bit of a dying art and I know it’s something normally associated with the women in our lives, but it’s something I’ve always done … it’s just so damned practical!
It all started when I was at school, I can vaguely remember my mother turning up my trouser legs when I got new ones and letting them down again as I grew … with hindsight she probably bought trousers with long legs to save buying as many pairs as I got older. I can also remember her carrying out some fairly proficient repairs on clothes that were ripped, torn, or worn - I never looked too scruffy!
In secondry school, possibly even earlier, I started making my own repairs. A button here, some worn seams there. I can also rememebr my mother decrying the price of school bags and shoes … items that seemingly disintegrated by virtue of their very proximity to me! Latterly I ended up repairing my school bag and I think my last one lasted a couple of years, albeit heavily stitched.
Now I find I’m at it agin … this week I’ve repaired two teddies, two pairs of pyjamas, two or three cloth nappies, and a twenty year old thread bare INXS t-shirt that I just can’t bring myself to throw away!? Not bad going, I think.
My Gran used to darn my socks for me and now i find myself eying the darning needles, scraps of wool and my holiest (and I don’t mean in the biblical sense) socks …
… I find it a wonder that these skills are allegedly dying out, but then given the relative (alleged) inexpense of clothing arriving from the sweat shops of China maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. I am disappointed though that our country, once with a thriving textile trade, suffers skills erosion and degeneration whilst at the same time an apparent lust for new over repaired ends in abuses, unseen far off.
The situation isn’t helped by our ex-chancellor and new Prime Ministers economic policy … but that’s a post for another day.
