'Make Do and Mend'...or just 'Make It' - MENDING CARDS

MENDING CARDS

I was particularly pleased to have found some WW2 mending cards with the motto ‘Mending Saves Coupon Spending’. These were used to darn up the holes in woolen jumpers and socks and sold in handy sized cards with a large selection of coloured wool threaded through chunky, large eyed darning needles. Still on sale until quite recently, possibly the 80’s ( showing my age here!), you may even find them lurking at the back of an old style haberdashers/sewing shop now. Lets hope the recent revival of 'making things' will help stop all these invaluable sewing suppliers shutting down for good, it's a knock on effect from the world wide recession, similar to the war effort of making do with what you've got, make it or mend it.

..And I won't even mention anything about how they should teach these skills in schools....at the time I HATED Needlework class and dropped it as soon as possible, I couldn't see the point of making an apron with a patch pocket.  But I had grudgingly learnt some basic sewing skills and was more than able, in my late teens and early twenties, to make and adapt lots of wild and whacky creations to wear on my Singer hand sewing machine.