Make Do and Mend

broke_mary

hi
have been reading with interest can somebody please tell me how to turn the sheets side to middle as mentioned by tootles i can remember my nan doing it but unfortunately she is no longer with. also i am presuming that it means there is a join in the middle is that not uncomfortable?

thanks x

maryb

My mother did them with a run and fell seam. You sew the seam in the normal way but don't press it open just press to one side, then trim away half the seam allowance on just the top one of the two pieces. take the wider seam allowance which is underneath and fold it over the narrow one then fold the whole seam allowance over again to turn the raw edge under. Then press the whole seam allowance flat so that the raw edges are neatly hidden underneath and stitch down the fold. This way it doesn't fray and survives any number of washes.

Double sheets are fine turned sides to middle but single sheets are horrible with a seam.. I would turn single sheets into pillowcases or cot sheets instead

Chipps

I hardly bought any cot or pram sheets when my babies were born, as my dear MIL made loads from old sheets! The sheets just about lasted out my 3, before they were all far too thin to use any more.
I don't think a lot of modern sheets last long enough to get sides-to-middled. The best sheets I have are ones which my grandma gave me. I hate to think how old they are, she bought them years ago when she was working (she's 97 now) and stockpiled them, and never used them! She also gave me one which is more like a thin blanket, it is too small to use, & is obviously made to wartime standards, as it has the utility mark on it! I have never used this one - keep wondering whether to donate it to the local museum!

[Deleted User]

Chipps wrote:

I hardly bought any cot or pram sheets when my babies were born, as my dear MIL made loads from old sheets! The sheets just about lasted out my 3, before they were all far too thin to use any more.
I don't think a lot of modern sheets last long enough to get sides-to-middled. The best sheets I have are ones which my grandma gave me. I hate to think how old they are, she bought them years ago when she was working (she's 97 now) and stockpiled them, and never used them! She also gave me one which is more like a thin blanket, it is too small to use, & is obviously made to wartime standards, as it has the utility mark on it! I have never used this one - keep wondering whether to donate it to the local museum!

Chipps they would love you forever if you did :T ,war-time memorabilia is like gold dust to museums ,They use old bits to take around to schools to show children different aspects of war-time living. Last year when I did my Modern History GCSE at my local Adult-ed college we had a dear old chap who had been an Air-raid Precaution (ARP) warden in 1944.He had a fantastic collection of old gas-masks , including a huge monstrosity that Mums had to strap their babies into. He gave a terrific talk about WW2,The youngsters in my class were really interested as they only had fuzzy ideas as to what happened on the Home Front.
As I am of ..erm more mature age ,he and I had a great chinwag about how things were in days gone by. I was the oldest in the class ,but the young folk there were great, and made me most welcome .I may be getting on a bit but I love going to adult-ed.Anyone else out there who has any war-time things please don't chuck them out ,you local history museum will usually be glad of them or will point you in the right direction of where to take them. Even history of things from as recently as WW2 is valuable and unreplaceable :beer:

amazon_spice

1 pretty patterned pillow case and 1 boring fadey plain pillow case.

Split them in half and put them together again with half from each.

Hey presto - a pair of patterned pillow cases.

wishingonastar_3

amazon_spice wrote:

1 pretty patterned pillow case and 1 boring fadey plain pillow case.

Split them in half and put them together again with half from each.

Hey presto - a pair of patterned pillow cases.

i love this idea. going to have to give that a go.

Dobie

amazon_spice wrote:

1 pretty patterned pillow case and 1 boring fadey plain pillow case.

Split them in half and put them together again with half from each.

Hey presto - a pair of patterned pillow cases.

Brilliant Idea that will work really well for me with an old duvet cover that's too good to throw away & the new one I bought to replace it but I haven't used yet because I need to 'use up' the old one first!! Mad or what??

amazon_spice

:j Glad to help. Got most of my frugal wisdom from Mum. ((Mum))

Hapless_2

Following from the wartime food thread, I am too young to remember the "make do and mend" but I remember being told about it.

Well on Wednesday my OH made me a printer table out of bits of an old dining table that was too good to throw and no one wanted on freecycle.

The worst chairs were only good for kindling apart from 3, one of which he is making into a little side table....I am proud of him I am .

On more "make do and mend" things, old jeans beyond repair have been cut up for patches, jeans that are too short for the kids but otherwise still fit have become shorts (legs gone to patches ). The un saveable bits (if cotton) go into the composter.

angelavdavis

I have done various over the years. I think my make do and mend comes from when we made go-carts from bits of old prams and scrap wood! My Mum is also a recycler in this respect.

I have made:
- blinds out of old curtains
- plant pots out of old kitchenware
- made some greenhouse staging from disposed supermarket shelving (I asked first!)
- shelves out of old wooden planks, etc
- cushions out of curtains
- a double quilt cover out of a single (because I couldn't get a double in the style I wanted), I unpicked the sides and added plain panels either side to extend its width!
- patchwork from bits of fabric for cushions
- skirts from old dresses
- shorts from old trousers
- resurrected old pieces of furniture by jazzing it up!
- reused bricks I dug out of the garden to edge a lawn
- dragged four metal framed garden chairs home from the tip, stripped them and repainted them - we had them for years!
- I have four compost bins, a wormery and have just taken delivery of a bokashi!