My Mum said to me recently that it was good these days that ‘mend and make do’ is back - now everyone is being green. She no longer thinks people will see her as being mean, if she wears something old and worn out, but ‘environmentally friendly’. Of course, we shouldn’t worry about what other people think, but we do. And I know what she means. As I hang out our tatty faded and frayed old towels on the washing line I just think, well better in use than in a landfill…
There’s a strange thing - people tend to rebel against their parents. I follow the footsteps of my Grandparents a lot, homebrew, gardening, knitting, making and creating. My parents and their siblings, who grew up with wet washing drying around the fire, or ideal boiler, were the first to rush out and get a tumble drier, and take down the washing line. My dad stopped making homebrew the minute he could afford ‘the decent stuff’. They stepped away from hand-me-downs and charity shops. Perhaps they rebel against their kids too, as they ignored me ranting on about recycling and drying on the line and saving energy. But the generations are coming back together again in a way, turns out we are not so different, my parents have their own go at self sufficiency, and as we all try to ‘do our bit’ for the environment, we go back to mend and make do.
I was pondering on this whilst mending an old jumper today. This big shop bought grey jumper had started to come apart at the seams. It had already been demoted to work use (along with my others!) , but now the sides were opening up. ‘Ventilation’, I declared, wearing it anyway with gaping holes under the arms. But that old saying ‘a stitch in time..’ has some merit, as with each wearing or wash the seams opened up some more. Eventually I accepted defeat and it’s been there on the mending heap for about six months. So I sat, whilst my son was doing a crossword aimed at kids, helping him with the spelling or to work out what the picture was. Education and mending in one. Quite pleasant really.
Stupid, cos its one of those jobs that took only minutes and now I have a jumper back. On top of that, now I know how easy the seams come apart.. when the jumper does finally die, I shall rip it back for the yarn. Be a long time before it reaches landfill.
