Does anybody 'darn' anymore?

old-fashioned_3

Its great on all knitwear

churchmouse_3

I still have my grandmothers mushroom to darn my sweaters but i put up with odd socks if only one gets holey then its partner teams up with another lone sock. no-one can tell under wellies or joddy boots.!
Even cotton sweaters / shirts are mended or worn as mucking out clothes till they literally fall apart.
I have been known to patch my jeans and also put seggs in my shoes / boots....*** does anyone use them any more?

rosieben

sairy2005 wrote: »

Last time I was in my local Oxfam shop they had a box of rag hooks for about 50p each. It is also worth asking if they have buttons and patterns. Some do but keep them out the back.

Never thought to ask in my local charity shops - I shall be asking if they have any sewing/knitting kit tucked away out back. thanks for the tip!

razra

No I dont darn but I do cross stitch

My uncles partners still darns though and quite often mends his socks,

1sttimer_2

What a comforting thread (scuse the pun)! I used to darn, but as family are all grown up and gone I don't do too much now. I made a lot of my girls clothes when they were small, amending patterns to suit or making them up (very simple ones i must say). Materials came from all over, my old clothes or jumble sale rummaging. I once used an old Laura Ashley curtain (in the house when we bought it) and made a really pretty party dress for my DD1 when she was about 9.

I still sew now and again and love making new from old. We were on a 5 month trip in USA about 18 years ago and stayed with an aunt where I had access to a sewing machine etc. My aunt used to buy loads of cheap trousers to cut down into shorts for herself and I made shorts from the cut offs for my daughters. They thought they were the bees knees as they matched my aunts! She also did the same with dresses and cut them down to make short tops for herself so I made skirts for dd's with the surplus. Saved us a fortune as the girls grew so quickly whilst there and I didn't need to buy loads of new clothes.

This is making me want to get going again! - Can't wait till I get grandchildren, though not sure if daughters would want me to do this for their offspring!

lph537

My Mum was a chiropodist and warned that darned patches on socks can be rough patches and can cause blisters in some people. This is no big deal to most people but could be a problem for diabetics or those with por circulation.

On the other hand, she taught me to darn, make rag rugs and latch hook too.

jacky_horn

buxtonrabbitgreen wrote: »

I darn. I have a darning mushroom that was my mothers. I don't darn socks. I do the same as a previous poster buy all socks the same so I only have to throw away the holed one. What I do darn quite regularly are the elbows and wrists of the kids exspensive school jumpers. my dad taught me to darn too. He learnt in the army. He also taught me how to knit. But the most oldstyle thing I have ever come across was my late MIL's crotchted stair carpet. Which served them well for 40 years.

My stair carpet was wearing in patches and I couldn't afford to replace it. My BIL was a carpet fitter/ repairman and explained how to repair it by darning. They had to do it on insurance repair jobs like cigarette burns where the company didn't want to pay for a whole new carpet.

You cut out a little piece of carpet from somewhere unobtrusive, like a bit that is turned under or underneath a piece of permanent furniture. Then you pull out appropriately coloured threads from your spare bit of carpet and using a rug making tool (a previous post said she bought one from a charity shop for 50p) push in the doubled thread into the threadbare backing of your carpet, holding the 2 loose ends, then knot it using the tool, following what you think the pattern will be. It is absolutely fool proof. You just can't see the mend except that the patch looks a bit newer than its surroundings.

Finally the carpet wore quicker than I could mend it. The living room carpet was desperate by then and we wanted to buy a new one. So before getting rid of it, we cut out the pieces of carpet under the settees, and other "good" bits and fitted them on the stairs. The stair carpet looks brand new, as indeed it is. Those bits were never walked on. 4 years on, it is still new looking, not a bit of wear anywhere.

Really we could have bought new no bother, but we don't like to buy unnecessarily. It was quite satisfying too.Through this and other economies we didn't really feel, we managed to pay off our 20 remaining years on our mortgage in 3 years (it was a little mortgage mind). It is great having more money that is yours to choose what to do with each month. It takes pressure and stress off you.

sairy2005

If socks are darned properly they shouldn't have lumpy bits. I was considered part of being a good housewife to have nice flat darns. Yer right I can think of a few other things as well.

sairy2005

If socks are darned properly they shouldn't have lumpy bits. It was considered part of being a good housewife to have nice flat darns. Yer right I can think of a few other things as well.

julesgr

Everytime I visit my godchildren there's a small pile of bits for me to sew or darn. I do that while catching up with mum when she's cooking me a dinner!