make do and mend – KDD & Co

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By: Kate Davies Designs January 15, 2011January 17, 2011

History, textiles, writingdarning, Kate Davies, knitting, make do and mend, mending, Rowan, Rowan 49, rowan magazine, Rowan no 49, stitching34 Comments

The new Rowan Magazine has just come out, and I have a feature in it, exploring the history of mending, darning, and ‘plain work’. I really enjoyed researching and writing this piece, and working on it became quite important to me during some difficult times over the Summer. In many respects, it is a very…

Mrs Sew and Sew interview

Since my sister bought me this book a while ago, I have taken all my darning advice from Mrs Sew and Sew — the fictional character invented by the British Board of Trade to promote practices of mending and making do. When considering war-time rations, we perhaps first think of food and fuel, but clothes…

mended

By: Kate Davies Designs January 15, 2008January 11, 2009

injustice, sewingAlex Martin, brown dress project, darning, make do and mend, sewing, tesco, thrift, wardrobe refashion8 Comments

Mr B knew there was something funny going on when I brightened up at the prospect of darning and patching the arse of his jeans. “I’ve seen you,” he said, “looking at those books. You just want to do some elaborate darning, like the stuff you saw in there.” I rolled my eyes and told…