Memorygirls Make Do and Mend for 2008 Thread

mary43

I'm sure she's ok and would have found a way of letting us know if she wasn't.
She is so busy and has so much to do, bless her, and I do love reading about what she's done. She's a real inspiration:j

candygirl

Memorygirl this is such an optimistic and heart warming thread.I really admire you for your positive outlook and OS ways.Makes me look like a materialistic lazy moo now, but when I look back 20 years to when my DD was born I was actually quite OS then;)
When I fist looked at your recipes, I thought you were a fellow veggie, but then I saw the lamb:eek: :rolleyes: .Oh well nobody's perfect are they:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: only joking, and keep up the good work hun xx:D .

Olliebeak

candygirl wrote: »

......but when I look back 20 years to when my DD was born I was actually quite OS then;) ......

I've been thinking exactly the same thing myself. Mine are all adult now (34, 29, 28) but I was very OS back then - ex-OH was nearly always unemployed and money was very tight. Have to admit that not everything was ' cooked from scratch' but I did make my own quiches and all my own baking. We didn't have a lot of clothes so I had to be very organised with the laundry (Mon, Wed, Fri without fail) - plus I had towelling nappies. These were dropped into water with Boots version of 'Napisan' during the day and then soaked in boiling water and Acdo, in the sink, after doing the dishes each evening. About 9.00 I would then finish them off, rinse and then put through the spin dryer (worth it's weight in gold that was!). They would then dry on the airer overnight - along with any other laundry that needed drying off - no tumble dryer.

I always made my own clothes, and the childrens, trousers, dresses, jumpers, cardigans etc and, as mentioned on another thread, crocheted blankets for extra warmth on their beds.

Ex-OH grew some vegetables for our own use - mostly runner beans - but they were delicious and fortunately the kids loved them! Sometimes, when making bubble and squeak/fry-up I would use some of it to put in a pastry case - very much like a cornish pasty! - and that would make another meal.

mary43

I did much the same. Got married in 1962..........bit after that first hubby lost his job (but even when he was working money was tight). He got an allotment and grew all our vegand when the kids were born it was buckets of napisan, terry towelling nappies (disposables I dont think had been invented then..........lol), made things like bacon and onion roll for dinner -very filling if we hadnt got much else.
There was a bread strike (can't remember exactly when) so I made the bread myself (no bread-makers then either) and had to do a loaf every day as I only had a small loaf tin and when it was just cooked and still warm it got eaten very quickly ! Made biscuits as well -still got the recipes somewhere. During the bread strike the shops ran out of yeast so Mum gave me a recipe for milk loaf -no yeast needed. Wasn''t as nice but was still bread !
Power cuts we were always given a bit of warning about ..........no central heating just coal fire and we cooked off that..........jacket potatos underneath and saucepan of baked beans or soup sitting on the fire.
Made the kids first romper suits from mens shirts I'd bought from jumble sale. Nice white cotton they were and I embroidered a motif on the front. Knitted pram suits as well but then wool was cheap. Made all my maternity dresses -one pattern with a few variations and just three of them was all I needed.
Oh those were the days...................lol Actually, as I've sat and written all that I'm amazed at what I did.............couldn't do it so much now though. Hands aren't up to fiddly sewing and certainly couldn't make bread by hand and got no bread maker. Knittings out the window as well due to hand trouble.
Still do a fair bit of make do and mend though............buy second hand stuff and adapt it to suit long as there's not too much sewing involved. Amazing what can be done with a bit of inspiration.:T

bellaquidsin

Olliebeak - your post brought back memories. That's just how we used to live. My eldest is coming up 39. The terry nappies were boiled up in an enamel pail on the gas stove - no washing machine although someone did give me a Flatley Dryer - just a heated cabinet with rails in. I rarely used it as I was frightened of the cost of running it and it made so much steam. The bare brick walls (painted) in my kitchen were not a pretty sight when running in rivers:rolleyes:

I made all our own clothes and knitted woolies. I visited jumble sales and would come home with a big bag of clothes for a pound, which if they washed OK were allowed to stay and got a makeover. I got a lovely camel coat for 10 pence for my DS - about three at the time. A friend's husband (an accountant) looked at him wearing it with the little yellow bobble hat I had knitted and remarked "We could never afford to dress our kids like that". My reply was, "Really, I couldn't afford not too".

I see the children now in their expensive designer clothes and they are not happier for it and I just feel so sorry for the mum's who think that they have to keep up with the rat race.

It is so heartwarming to read of memorygirls intent to 'make do and mend'.
Power to her arm I say. I'm looking forward to reading more about her endeavours.

Bella.

candygirl

MG has inspired me to get my slow cooker out and use up all the old veggies in my fridge today.Have made a king of veggie stew/chilli number:D

Topher

Hey, my first was born in 1983 and I too had Terry nappies (Harrington's no less, pressie from my mum, and Boots own, Pressie from M.I.L) and recall soaking them in the chemist's equivalent of Napisan. Can clearly recall squeezing the icy water out after the soak too. Then dragging the twin tub out to boil wash and what a great spinner it had on it.
I did a little hand knitting while my two were small enough to fit what I was prepared to make. But by then, tax on wool had made hand knitting a little less of a viable option. Several female relatives donated to the layette.... remember that? I was really touched by their generosity, and still remember in detail what each person, some now long passed on, gave to my daughter.
What a lovely way to show they cared.

We also got some fantastic hand downs from a woman who worked with my Mum, stuff I could never have afforded. I used to get great comments from folk on how well dressed my children were. Yet we spent so little.

Topher (sentimental sniff)

charleybabes

my mum was very much OS when we were all growing up. there was four children and my dad was made redundant in 1980 just after i was born.. he didnt get another job for 6 years even though he looked everyday ( how demoralising must that have been for him)
even when he got a job money was very tight.. we never had much but tbh we were happy kids
my mum made all of our clothes.. for a wedding once she made me a dress out of my dads old shirts.. it was gorgeous.. all pintucked and everything!
she cooked everything from scratch, would make up wierd and wonderful things when the cupboards were bare such as "cow pie!" and "burger omlette!!????"" we never went hungry. were never ill children and were actually called snobs at school even though we were the last to have a telephone or a colour telly and were probably the poorest in the school!!
when i look back on how my mum and dad struggled it really makes me sad that things werent better for them.. but i suppose it makes us the people we are today aswell doesnt it

mary43

I was born just before the end of WW2 so rationing was still about and Mum had a real struggle to bring me and my brother up. Luckily my gran kept hens so we were spared the dreaded powdered egg, plus grandad had about three allotments plus their huge garden full of fruit and veg so we did ok for that. Clothes were made from someone elses cast offs (my dresses were always smocked at the front and later mum taught me how to do it), worn out jumpers were unravelled and the wool re-used,and we got a parcel from my aunt every so often -her daughter was just that bit older than me so her clothes always fitted. I loved it when it arrived, not knowing what would be inside for me.
Christmas was a bit of a homemade affair..............Dad made a trolley - go kart it would be called now - for my brother one year, all our stuffed toys were made by gran including some very strange looking dolls for my home made dolls house..................lol No such thing as 'designer' labels or toys that were the 'must haves'.............everyone was in much the same boat. We survived it and as a result have learned a lot I think.

bellaquidsin

Well, it seems that memorygirl's thread has turned us all into memory girls.

I too was born towards the end of WW2 and well remember how my mother had to make do and mend, but everyone did because even if there was the money to buy clothing, coupons placed restrictions on what could be bought and there wasn't (so I'm told) the stuff in the shops.

When I was 7 I was a bridesmaid for a relative along with a cousin who was five. The dresses we wore were borrowed and had been made for twins, which meant my cousin's dress was too big and mine too small. Durning the wedding ceremony I let out a hugh sigh and all the poppers at the back of the dress 'popped'. My poor mother had to creep up the aisle during the service and pin me together with safety pins.

This thread is becoming really interesting, there is a lot of social history here. I wonder if it will be of any help to memorygirl next time she looks in?

Bella