Make Do and Mend

minimiser

Its much harder to make do and mend nowadays. Spare parts cost a fortune and you are mostly advises to buy new.
Even basic material and knitting supplies seen to be expensive when you can buy new for much less without all the labour.
I actually like making stuff and feel I was born in the wrong era or maybe I'm romanticising the idea?

nannyboo1

minimiser wrote: »

Its much harder to make do and mend nowadays. Spare parts cost a fortune and you are mostly advises to buy new.
Even basic material and knitting supplies seen to be expensive when you can buy new for much less without all the labour.
I actually like making stuff and feel I was born in the wrong era or maybe I'm romanticising the idea?

I agree I think I am turning into my mum as I often hear myself saying they don't make things like they used to and I really don't think they do anymore just so you have to buy new.

valk_scot

My mum was a teenager/early twenties through the war. Make do and mend? She could burn water, never sewed on so much as a button that I could remember and was a classic "throw it out and buy a new one" consumer. She said she'd done all that, didn't have to now so didn't intend to ever again.

Me on the other hand? I learned to cook and sew at school in the '70s and really, it was like pressing the on switch. I did an "O" level in domestic science/food & nutrition inbetween my heavyweight science curriculum and though I only spent one year at sewing class I made a school blouse right down to the buttonholes, turned cuffs and finished seams which taught me just about every basic sewing skill. I'd had no example of any of this at home but I think some latent thrift gene woke up then and after persuading my parents to buy me an ancient treadle sewing machine for my next birthday I made or adapted just about everything I wore for the next twenty years, learned to be a good cook, discovered jumble sales and charity shops as a student and really worked out how to make a pound stretch to five. My mother thought I was mad.

Four years ago one of my nieces was doing a project at secondary school about the home front and WW2. She was telling me about it one afternoon when her mum (my sister, who takes after our own mother when it came to thrift!) said "Do you think you'd manage to live like that if you had to? " Quick as a flash both nieces said "We'd just have to move in with Auntie Val", lol. It's true...I've got most of the basic skills, including a late blossoming talent for gardening and a massive allotment. I can even spin, so no problems running out of knitting wool, lol.

As to how I'd actually manage this long term though? Well, better than some, I suspect. Better than my sister anyway who would have to learn to cook after 40 years of not!

valk_scot

zara*elise wrote: »

it's something that's always interested me, for example my grandma had a rayburn, it would literally have perform twenty tasks, like cooking bread, and dinner, and drying clothes and heating the house to even consider turning it on!

Untill we had our Rayburn taken out three years back (it was the first gas version made and hadn't survived as well as the non-gas type) belive me, it made bread and dinner and dried clothes and heated the water every day. And ran the radiators in winter. I really miss the old thing...the Combi-boiler costs less to run though!

Margaret54

Hi all What a great thread. I have really enjoyed reading the posts, and I too am one who makes do and mends:) It was always because we had little money growing up, and later I was in the same position, bringing up my children with very little money. It makes so much sense though, as there is such a lot of waste in the world, people chucking things out just to buy newer, and more up to date stuff, etc. I will always enjoy doing what I do and it is lovely to read so many great tips from like minded folk. Keep up the good work xx

Seakay

indelible felt pen (magic marker) works well on heel scuffs as well

valk_scot

ceridwen wrote: »

Now that comment re black nail varnish has got me wondering whether there might be white nail varnish and whether that would be one way to deal with a couple of rust marks on my otherwise passable looking white washing machine - as I'm a bit concerned as to whether these rust marks could "spread" if left and I'm going to end up having to junk an otherwise perfectly serviceable washing machine (reluctant to do this - as its YEARS old and was made by Zanussi back when they were under original ownership - Swiss I think?). Think it must be about 20 years old and never even had to have a repair - hence the reluctance to see any rust mucking it up - as I doubt anything is made to the same standard now - including any current Zanussi ones....(judging by the worse-quality cooker I bought from them since they changed ownership....)

Tipp-ex?

If not, a small tin of metal touch-up paint, like Hammerite or Plasti-Cote? Or even a car touch-up pen?

Olliebeak

Back in 1970 there was a fashion for boots with very tight-fitting pull-up legs coated with PVC (or similar).



This often cracked and we were forever painting over the cracks with something called 'Snopake' - probably a forerunner of Tipp-ex - so we were 'making do and mending' even then .

culpepper

I love the ideas for making duvet covers and pillowcases .
We have a few 'temporary' fixes in place at our house which I guess count as making do.
The pull up part of the shower mixer tap doesnt work anymore on the bath, the knob comes away in your hand so,we have it permanently up(pulled up with mole grips) and if we want to use the taps,we take off the shower head and use the hose.
The toaster has 4 slots, 2 work fine but the other two the spring wont stay down so a chop stick and a rubber band under the toaster hold the lever down and we just let it go when the other side pops up.
When the microwave stopped working we thought we might as well get a look inside before dumping it,we did and discovered that a little screw had worked loose so that the door didnt register as being shut,it was a very quick fix with a screw driver.
My laptop, which I have had for over a year was found in a pile of rubbish the students were throwing out ,it had no harddrive or power supply and was covered in student type stickers but I thought I would have a fiddle anyway. It needed a £5 piece to replace a broken power connector on the motherboard,a cheap power supply and harddrive(I think about £35 together) ,a free linux operating system disc and has worked ever since.
OH's motorbike leathers which go at the crotch about once a year,get mended using the walking foot on my sewing machine. Ive sewn suede to the botton of my animal slippers with it too with a bit of pinching and squirming but found it was simpler to sew those on by hand.The suede was from an old coat.

jamanda

ceridwen wrote: »

Now that comment re black nail varnish has got me wondering whether there might be white nail varnish and whether that would be one way to deal with a couple of rust marks on my otherwise passable looking white washing machine - as I'm a bit concerned as to whether these rust marks could "spread" if left and I'm going to end up having to junk an otherwise perfectly serviceable washing machine (reluctant to do this - as its YEARS old and was made by Zanussi back when they were under original ownership - Swiss I think?). Think it must be about 20 years old and never even had to have a repair - hence the reluctance to see any rust mucking it up - as I doubt anything is made to the same standard now - including any current Zanussi ones....(judging by the worse-quality cooker I bought from them since they changed ownership....)

You can buy "proper" paint for this sort of thing - I think it was Halfords I saw it in but it is very expensive for what it is.

Can you rub it down a bit and put a bit of car rust inhibitor on it so it doesn't spread and then cover it with something - perhaps a can of car paint?