THE FORGOTTEN ART OF MENDING

Well, if everyone mended and altered we wouldn’t be here – most people don’t have the time or the resources.  Here are a few tips:

• Loose shoulder pads – buy little sticky circles of Velcro which adhere to the fabric for a short-term solution.  But in the end, you have to stitch them in
• Buttons – don’t use more than a double thread and don’t sew them too close to the shank
• Backstitch across holes in pockets until you can get to a tailor (tailors have to do jacket pockets particularly, because of the lining)
• Remember that lining is designed to wear out – it’s never going to be as tough as the fabric it’s designed to protect – so do re-line regularly to stop the outer material from wearing as well
• Hems and sleeves can be temporarily repaired with double-sided sticky tape.  Long term, they must be stitched or ironed together with Bondweb (though beware, it can leave a line)
• A trouser hem will hold for a day with a little safety pin on either side seam
• You can easily darn if you have the right wool and a darning mushroom, but don’t try with delicates such as cashmere and angora – leave it to the experts who will pick up the stitches
• Similarly, don’t be a have-a-go-hero with beads or missing embroidery or unravelling lace.
• If there’s a stain in a visible place, the only solution may be a patch, motif, embroidery or beadwork
• For underarm stains, buy a piece of matching material, or take some from the dress hem or seam allowance, and put gussets under the arms.  Deodorant rots fabric badly.

Go Through Your Wardrobe - Make-Do and Mend, c.1942. The Ministry of Information launched a campaign, Make-Do and Mend, to help people deal with clothes rationing. Posters and leaflets encouraged women to repair and renovate their old clothes, and offered helpful suggestions for how to create new outfits for themselves and their children from worn-out clothes and scraps of fabric.