In a little room in a modest house, in an unassuming part of Kent, piles of fabric sit neatly folded, awaiting their metamorphosis. Soft plaid wools in a hundred colours sit next to crisp pastel linens. Wooden reels of sturdy thread – silk, linen, cotton, stand ready. Vintage buttons from the biggest boldest primary colours, to delicate pearl, horn and sparkling glass wait in tins and boxes to be matched to the right textile.
All these fabrics have seen life. Woollen rugs have warmed a child’s bed before being set aside to brighten up a picnic. Checked tablecloths has done their duty at years of “high tea”. Here too is embroidery that someone’s grandmother leaned over of an evening, stitching while listening to the Light Programme on the radio. All have been rescued from retirement. Clever fingers will soon cut and stitch them into new lives for new homes.
The first step is cleaning. Even textiles which are already clean are washed again. Linens are laundered in scalding water. Cottons are starched. Wool is given a specially designed wash to close up the fibres and alter the surface texture ready for its re-use in different guises.
Collecting vintage trim is part of the process. Vintage threads on their wooden reels are stronger and more lustrous than modern cottons – and far better than the polyester thread usually used in machines. Buttons from the 1920s to the 1950s are snapped up whenever they appear. Vintage woollen yarns are sourced as odd balls or carefully unravelled from early handknits.
Image © IWM (Art.IWM PST 14924)
All these fabrics have seen life. Woollen rugs have warmed a child’s bed before being set aside to brighten up a picnic. Checked tablecloths has done their duty at years of “high tea”. Here too is embroidery that someone’s grandmother leaned over of an evening, stitching while listening to the Light Programme on the radio. All have been rescued from retirement. Clever fingers will soon cut and stitch them into new lives for new homes.
The first step is cleaning. Even textiles which are already clean are washed again. Linens are laundered in scalding water. Cottons are starched. Wool is given a specially designed wash to close up the fibres and alter the surface texture ready for its re-use in different guises.
Collecting vintage trim is part of the process. Vintage threads on their wooden reels are stronger and more lustrous than modern cottons – and far better than the polyester thread usually used in machines. Buttons from the 1920s to the 1950s are snapped up whenever they appear. Vintage woollen yarns are sourced as odd balls or carefully unravelled from early handknits.
Image © IWM (Art.IWM PST 14924)
Make Do and Mend is a phrase we associate with wartime rationing. But re-using textiles is something that goes back into the distant past. For centuries it was taken for granted that worn out garments would be cut down for children or refashioned into patchwork and rag rugs. Only the wealthy could afford everything new. Now, with cheap imports, a trip to the discount outlet a leisure activity, it’s only too common for a carrier full of new garments to sit in the wardrobe and eventually be discarded without even being worn. It is a squandering of natural resources and labour that our grandmothers would have been shocked and scandalised by.
Even as late as the 1960s, women made their own clothes as often as they bought them. It was assumed every girl would learn to sew and knit, and magazines had patterns every week. Dad’s old shirts were cut down for rompers suits, his trousers turned into a little boy’s dungarees, mother’s dresses remodelled for a little girl. But it didn’t stop there. Embroidered tablecloths, patchwork quilts, tapestry cushions – all can still be found and testify to the skills we’ve lost. “Make Do and Mend” brings back that heritage of needlework for the 21st century.
Image © IWM (Art.IWM PST 14948)
Even as late as the 1960s, women made their own clothes as often as they bought them. It was assumed every girl would learn to sew and knit, and magazines had patterns every week. Dad’s old shirts were cut down for rompers suits, his trousers turned into a little boy’s dungarees, mother’s dresses remodelled for a little girl. But it didn’t stop there. Embroidered tablecloths, patchwork quilts, tapestry cushions – all can still be found and testify to the skills we’ve lost. “Make Do and Mend” brings back that heritage of needlework for the 21st century.
Image © IWM (Art.IWM PST 14948)
Why sew by hand? After all, a machine is quicker and, surely, more efficient?
Stitching by hand is something humans, and most especially women, have done since the Paleolithic. Woven textiles were first invented in the Neolithic, and have been made by hand and stitched by hand for millennia before machines were invented to do the work. Whenever a machine comes into the picture, speed and efficiency are gained, but other things are lost. Handmade textiles are more flexible, richer in texture and more alive. Hand stitching connects with that long tradition. It adapts to each piece of fabric, makes tiny adjustments as the seamstress proceeds. It is not accident that hand stitching is still at the heart of haute couture while high street clothes are entirely machine made. Machine stitching (even the machine is vintage) is used on some items where additional strength is required, but hand-finishing is still part of the plan.
Stitching by hand is something humans, and most especially women, have done since the Paleolithic. Woven textiles were first invented in the Neolithic, and have been made by hand and stitched by hand for millennia before machines were invented to do the work. Whenever a machine comes into the picture, speed and efficiency are gained, but other things are lost. Handmade textiles are more flexible, richer in texture and more alive. Hand stitching connects with that long tradition. It adapts to each piece of fabric, makes tiny adjustments as the seamstress proceeds. It is not accident that hand stitching is still at the heart of haute couture while high street clothes are entirely machine made. Machine stitching (even the machine is vintage) is used on some items where additional strength is required, but hand-finishing is still part of the plan.