Saturday 26 October 2013

Mending And Making Do

Recent high winds did a fair bit of damage to our Cornerstones garden fence [thank you Alwyn, our neighbour, who phoned us at the time, and brother Adrian who did a temporary repair] Good weather on Thursday meant Bob was able to fix some new panels [when time, and budget permits, we hope to replace them all]

IMG_0957 IMG_0955 IMG_0956 Meanwhile Jon and Liz had arrived with some mending for me. Jon’s “Shutt Velo Rapide” cycling top had developed holes in the pocket. When he contacted them, they sent a strip of fabric for him to patch it with!

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The strip was only 1” wide – so I ended up cutting it in half, and sewing the two bits together which I then fixed right across the base of the three pockets to give them all extra strength.

Meanwhile Liz had a jumper which arrived with the collar band unstitched. She contacted the company and they sent her a refund. And I mended the jumper [one of the threads sorted out earlier was a perfect match] It is almost invisible!

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IMG_0952-001I was feeling very pleased with our mending skills till Friday, when Bob and I visited the Bridewell Museum in Norwich. It was excellent- great displays and very informative. I was particularly taken with “Spitfire Cottage” – a doll’s house built during WW2 by two teachers in Norwich.

IMG_0980IMG_0985   Look at the amazing detail – all made from scraps. The WC is a broken clay pipe, other tiny fittings made from cut up ping pong balls and plastic thimbles – slivers of wood, matchsticks and scraps of metal, fabric and paper have produced a wonderfully detailed piece. Even the books have tiny words on the covers, and are coloured in authentic ‘Penguin’ style!

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The loo flushes! My parents had a bath rack like that IMG_0978

Notice the hand embroidered antimacassar on the back of the sofa and the woven rush footstool

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See the tiny wooden rolling pin, and the roller towel on the wall  IMG_0982

The amazing electric fire with reflecting concave back – and the neatest doyley under the fruit bowl IMG_0981

That doll- barely ½” tall has a crocheted dress to wear.   IMG_0983

Such amazing detail. Hand woven, carved, knitted, sewn and crafted…

I am in awe of such meticulous workmanship! [should that be work-woman-ship?] The broom is less than 3” high. It is all a truly brilliant piece of work.

I do hope their exhibition raised lots of money – these two women had worked so hard to recreate a 1940’s home in meticulous detail. Many people are complaining about living in “21st Century Austerity Britain” – but it is a shame that the make-do-and-mend attitude of the War Years was forgotten so quickly by so many people, who opted to live in a throwaway society.  I love recycling, refurbishing, repurposing and redeeming those things which others are discarding.

6 comments:

  1. What an amazing miniature house (I hesitate to call it a dolls' house!) - I remember how much I loved my dolls' house, but I had nothing as intricate as this!

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  2. Spitfire cottage..what a work of art. They must have been such patient ladies to do such tiny work.
    (I think it should be 'work-person- ship!!)

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  3. Beautiful craftsmanship in there - I am in awe of the tiny pictures of animals on the nursery wall! Next time we are in Norwich, we ought to go and see for ourselves - it looks inspirational - thank you for sharing that xx

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  4. My dream is to make a miniature house with all its miniature fixings one day! This one is amazing. But then so is your sweater mending. Very nice job, my dear!

    xofrances

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  5. The house is amazing...such detail.
    Jane x

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  6. Wow so much patience and hard work that has gone into this house is amazing. Those two ladies have great talent and a wonderful imagination.
    Carolx

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