Make Do and Mend

plumtreebabe

Hi there (first posting ever!), I can and do mend clothes: trousers up, trousers down (!), missing buttons etc. my biggest weaknest is crafts though - knitting and sewing - and I am always tempted and often give int o buying more wool and materials when I have bags and bags of it (three friends and relatives had a clear out last year and gave me everything!).

My make do with these crafts is to try to use what I've got, and I think my favourite make do-ish in the last year was taking up patchwork quilting, American Folk Art style. I've combined this with buying all OH's work shirts from charity shops (as nowadays they are immaculate) and then 'recycling' them after a few months (as he has always stained the armpits and collars by then!) into patchwork pieces. I now buy his shirts with my colourschemes in mind! He has refused to wear the bright yellow short sleeved checky one though!

AussieLass

I bought 5 new cushion covers for our lounge (that hasn't come yet :rolleyes:) forgot to buy any filling so used one of DH pillow's instead. I thought that was pretty clever.

Frances63

AussieLass wrote: »

I bought 5 new cushion covers for our lounge (that hasn't come yet :rolleyes:) forgot to buy any filling so used one of DH pillow's instead. I thought that was pretty clever.

I hope your DH got a new pillow!

Hate to think of him lying there with his head just on the mattress!

AussieLass

He had three originally. :rolleyes: Now he has 2.

plumtreebabe

You're right about the pillow - i make cushion covers and sometimes stuffed dolls and old duvets and pillows, including the fabric on the outside are just perfect for this. Even cheap duvets (like Ikea or supermarket offers) are waaaay cheaper than buying the filling as toy/craft filling, and easier to get hold of. When you've only got one dog, there's only so many pet beds you can make with an old duvet.

how about that for a challenge: how many different uses are there for old pillows/duvets?

Plumtreebabe

[Deleted User]

I make all my own cards for Christmas & birthdays ect and my family know to save all the cards they get as I often recycle them into new ones .I also make cards for my local Macmillan cancer fund and donate them to our loacl hospital for sale . I think over the years I have almost turned re-cycling into an art form. Virtually nothing gets thrown out if I can find a use or a person that I can pass it on to.
I even talked my grandson into giving my neighbours lad his old bike as it was just sitting in the garden collecting rust. The little boy is delighted with it and I see him out everyday on it.It is so easy to find a home for odds and ends and I love it when I can think of a re-use for things .
re the pillows and duvets .my daughter has two dogs that usually get my pillows for their baskets, or sometimes she will take them to the dog rescue centre as they are always looking for odds and ends for their abandoned dogs.
I recycle wool into knitted blankets for the Linus project for children all over the world who have very little .As I said nothing ever gets binned in my house .A friend gave me an old large tin of buttons and I gave them to my eldest DD and she took them into the special-needs school where she works and the children use them in their craft projects.
My dustbin men get a small carrier bag of rubbish each week, as whatever I throw out has to really be beyond any use what so ever.

Cerisa

I've sewn up pants and socks, sewn up holes in old clothes, and altered a pair of jeans that are too big for me (although denim is quite hard work so that is an ongoing project!). Also a friend gave me a top that was too loose so i cut the sleeves off and plan to turn them into rosettes. Feelign quite accomplished :beer:

luxor4t

Our best 'mend' was replacing the glass in the oven door (I dropped a casserole lid that bounced, flipped at an angle and smashed the glass -OUCH).

New cooker - my idea -too expensive
New door - retailer's idea - "£200ish" :eek:
New glass panel ordered on line & fitted by OH £65 :beer:


I am currently re-making our rarely used superking spare duvet cover into double sized duvet cover for DS1 to set up home with. (spare fabric will become pillow cases)

I re-vamped our mismatched bedroom furniture thanks to the lovely 'shabby chic' thread and am now doing the same with a few charity shop bits for DD to take to her student house.

I was brought up to do this - if you listened to my gran, rationing had never ended!

spandles

Thanks for all your replies - they're great. It is so satisfying to repair/re-use something rather than paying the retailers our hard-earned cash just to buy their over priced replacements.

I'm thinking of starting another thread about 'charity begins at home' as I have been totting up just how much I give away, especially to the school and Church. I have 2 DDs - so it's double the summer and xmas raffle tickets, usually a £5 bottle of wine for a raffle prize, cakes for the cake stall plus money to buy 'tack' at the fairs, double the sponsor money for 'sponsor this that and the other'. Then theres Red Nose Day, Poppy appeals, Children in Need, Xmas Shoe Box appeal etc. I must donate nearly £100 a year!! Would I appear really mean and ungrateful if I didn't give - just for a year or so???

WartimeScrapingofMarmite

I mend all clothes rather than throw them away and (this is probably a bit disgusting) I have had the same three pairs of thick black winter tights for 7 years - I just darn all the holes! I only wear them under jeans for a bit of insulation or with long boots anyway so no-one can see although now they are probably more darn than tights! I also have a lovely Mum who has taken 3 tops that I'd bought on a whim but later found the style didn't suit me and has altered them into a completely different styles that actually suit me(thank you Mum:T )

Our oven door disintegrated at the weekend and my husband mended it - you might think "so what" but you have to bear in mind that DIY really isn't his strong point so I was quite proud of him - a new one would have cost around the £20 mark.

Oh, and I used a load of grotty old flat pillows to stuff my homemade draught excluders