S, fantastically, assisted me in Craigslist-ing my scraps and today some nice lady came to get the bag of them on the porch. (Oh, how FREE I feel. And yet how unwasteful!) Honestly, if it were wartime I'd have done my part.
But I have an ugly secret (no, not the 3 lingerie drawers - those are neither ugly nor a secret!): I cannot resist sewing ephemera. OMG, now that I've found Etsy which, let's face it, is like my own personal, nicely-curated lawn sale, I'm veritably addicted to searching out the whackest olde-time sewing lure evah.
There is something compelling about beautiful, half-full mending cards and old spools of thread that you know have been around since the 1930s. The slightly musty smell of vintage yarn... The colours (mauve, air force blue)... Old needles, when they aren't rusted - hand-stamped! Weird darning patches that are supposed to iron-on but, really, I don't know if one should trust that technology...
Seriously, I could direct you to a zillion pages I have favourited but I don't quite want you to know about them because one day I just might cave and buy that French cashmere mending thread, for quite a lot of money given that it's ancient and I don't actually have any clothing in that colour.
It's been tough keeping things to one mending kit. Note: My darning egg still hasn't arrived and I'm beginning to fear it will not fit. Other note: If you include the vintage button collection, it's 2 mending kits. Sue me.
Here's a little peak (it's not all in there, the mending threads hadn't yet arrived):
I actually found 2 mending cards having thread (more or less) the same colour as 2 sweaters that have holes. Alas, I can't say that all of the properties align. Will the thread be too shiny? Will it matter if it's not adequately stretchy (just for a little hole)? All I can say is that I'm going to have to give it a go cuz these booboo-ed sweaters aren't gonna get any less hole-y while I wait around indefinitely.
Of course, I continue to source new colours and fibres. Perhaps I should start sewing in the palette of my mending kit...
Today's questions: Do you have a mending kit and, if so, what does it contain? A darning egg or mushroom? Vintage threads? What's the box made of? Biscuit-tin? Wood? Wicker? When you use it, do you channel a sassy, take-no-prisoners wartime lass (who wears tweed jackets she's had to reline twice in crochet squares)? Are you good at mending? Do tell!
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At one time I did quite a bit of sewing, making mine & my kids' clothes, even the occasional garment for my husband (wool cross-country ski pants, for example). So I'd built up an effective array of spools of thread in innumerable colours; and there were always a variety of needles suited to different tasks; as well as a thimble or two; a few pairs of scissors, zigzags included; a fabulous button box; stitch-rippers. . . .
ReplyDeleteSomehow, over the past 20 or so years, focused on back-to-grad-school, then teaching full-time, I've stuck to knitting rather than sewing (easier to fit into available moments, I think) and bit by bit, began to "send out" all mending. While I still think that service is worth the expense, I often find that the trouble of dropping off and picking up is more than it would take simple to make a few snips and stitches at home -- IF ONLY I had the right colour of thread. Somehow, during moves or cleaning projects, I got myself down to a spool of white and a spool of powder blue -- and a whole lot of little hotel mending kits whose thread, honestly, is pure crap.
I'm beginning to move slow back in the other direction. . . . you're a few steps ahead of me. And we're both collecting with reason, right? right?
I didn't realize that you'd sewn that extensively. It must be very strange not to do it now.
DeleteThose hotel kits are shit. You're totally right.
It's very true that we're collecting with reason. (So says every collector on the face of the planet :-))
When I saw 'hand sewing kit', for a moment, I thought you were going to 'hand'sew your jacket! :o
ReplyDeleteI don't have a mending 'kit' but I do have some mending supplies (hand sewing needles, thread, buttons, thimble, etc.. ) mixed in with sewing supplies - so when I need, those are nowhere to be found.
Ha! Only part of it...
DeleteThat's what my mending kit used to be like. I'm really hoping that my new, supply-ready system works.
After 50+ years of sewing, I'd be afraid to count all my spools of sewing thread; safe to say that it's extremely rare for me to NOT have the right colour on hand for anything that needs mending.
ReplyDeleteMy mending yarn stash also comes with a history since I've inherited almost all of it from my grandmother, mother, and mother-in-law; I'm sure there are yarn packets in there that date back to the late 30s and 40s. Much of my knitting equipment was also passed on to me by my mom; some of the needles date back to when she knitted socks for my dad when he was overseas in WWII.
The icing on the cake, for me, though is the knitting box that my dad made for my mom just after the war. His GI money went for a two-year industrial arts program in Toronto in 1948 and the box was a second-year graduation requirement. It will be passed on to my daughter-in-law who will also be inheriting all my sewing/mending/knitting things when my husband and I downsize. That will make it four generations who will have handled those items--kind of neat, I think.
Marilyn: That story is awesome! How supported you must feel every time you reach for something in that kit. The box is a work of art! Send us a link to a pic.
ReplyDeleteI have a mending kit, but I hardly use it. It's the smallest instrument box of the 3 instrument boxes I bought as a kit, so plastic.
ReplyDeleteThere were days when I had plenty of free time, energy and was very poor, so I was mending quite extensively and became good at it. Like lace and one should look very closely to notice, not just making couple of stitches here and there. But I never liked it. So now it's more like throw away or outsource.
Glad you can enjoy it.
I really hope, with some practice, I might get good on it. And that I won't resent it or become stressed or bored by it. I guess time will tell. Lord knows, I've done a lifetime's worth of outsourcing :-)
DeleteIt's not a nuclear physics ), the only things you need are supplies, dexterous fingers and motivation, so I think it shouldn't be a problem at all. Just hope it won't become getting on your nerves,
DeleteOh, me too!
DeleteI have mending supplies, but not a kit per se. I do have a few cherished sewing supplies from my grandmother like a 1930's tracing wheel with a bakelite handle and a tin of buttons - the tin came with a fruitcake in it back in the 40's or 50's. It's fun to have some things from the past.
ReplyDeleteOooh, that tracing wheel sounds beautiful. Is it still strong after so many years?
DeleteEtzy is a little world. Your mending kit is very attractive. It's far more attractive than the zip loc bag I use for my mending project of the moment.
ReplyDeleteMater seems have to managed to fit every single possible thing into her life!
You can order the boxes (nesting, set of 4) from CB2: http://www.cb2.com/all-storage/storage/birch-storage-boxes-set-of-4/s593853
DeleteI understand that everybody needs a mending egg :)
ReplyDeleteBut in case you - you know - have to mend a sock right now, when your egg hasn't arrived yet - here is a little money-saving tip. You can mend socks on an old light bulb :)
Oh, that is SO smart! Very wartime measures!
Delete