Friday 4 February 2022

Darned Good !

Recently I started a major sort of my haberdashery, included my 6-strand embroidery floss. I have a lot of this. Some is wound on cards - when I began serious cross stitching in the 80s, it seemed a sensible way to keep my threads organised. And once I've used half a skein, it usually collapses and tangles, so this is neat. But I also have a lot of new, or barely started skeins [many donated by other people - I have not purchased any floss since about 1990] So I have an organiser box and a tin of 'spares'. And this despite the fact that I am constantly using floss for children's projects at church, or giving starter packs away to friends who fancy trying embroidery.

Someone even gave me a bag of twenty skeins in different shades of pink! Which all proved useful when Rosie made a hole in her best cheetah tee shirt. I found the matching thread, made a neat little darn, and ironed a small patch of interfacing on the back to hold it in place. Because of the location of the hole it didn't feel appropriate to do a 'visible' mend, like I did with her dress last year,

I am really pleased with this mend, and I know Rosie will be thrilled to have her tee shirt fixed. 

Someone sent me an amusing picture this week. 

I have to say that both my daughters can do very good repair jobs themselves, 


I just get called in when I have the specialist tools. And they are pretty good at rescuing laundry disasters too.



















21 comments:

  1. I'd say you darned well and good! :D

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  2. That label is just right in my experience.

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  3. Spent ages knitting a lovely little sweater with the Tree of Life motif on the front for the newest grandchild. First time I saw him wearing it, it looked decidely shrunken! Unfortunately, it had been tossed into the tumble dryer and narrowly escaped being redemption! Serves me right for using Rowan Cashsoft Merino to knit it. The new sweater is made with Stylecraft DK so should be tough enough to withstand any laundry disasters!(might get a supply of those labels, just in case).

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    1. Unless a new mum has a housekeeper, I reckon all baby garments should be easy to wash. Wool and cashmere feel and look lovely - but are not the best choice when combined with sleepless nights and baby vomit.

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  4. A great job - and I love the label for the laundry instructions!

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  5. So neat!!! I have CBC's Grandmother's sewing basket which has masses of skeins of floss. They are in a tangle!

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    1. Cut some embroidery thread bobbins (Google them) from scrap card. Put some music on (a favourite symphony) and spend an evening sorting them out.

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  6. When I went back to college in my early 20s, my mum offered to do my washing to save me paying for the launderette. I once put in my new viscose party dress, and she decided the handwash only instruction was over cautious and it would be fine in the twin tub with everything else. It wasn't. Went from a size 14 to about a 6...

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    1. Oh Lynn what a shame. In the 70s I came home from uni for a friend's wedding. Mum had helpfully taken my crimplene outfit to be dry cleaned. We took the polythene cover off and discovered it had been steam pressed and was totally out of shape No time to get anything else- I had to wear an old dress instead!

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  7. I also did masses of counted cross-stitch decades ago so have lots of skeins of floss. Long ago I bought a card showing the DMC colors, numbers, and color names so used that information to put each color in a letter size envelops with the color name and number written on the outside. I put them in numerical order in a boot box so they're easy to find and they don't tangle at all.
    Then in 1993, I began quilting ...!

    Hugs!

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    1. Perhaps you could find an embroiderer who has given up quilting, and exchange floss for "fat quarters"

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  8. That's an amazing collection of floss and how useful to have the exact colour for an invisible mend for Rosie's tee shirt. I have two sets of tiny spools of sewing thread in what seems like every colour under the sun, but I have sometimes found it lacking in the exact colour I have needed!

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    1. Top tip for mending: find the two shades that are the closest match and twist them together (use a needle with an eye big enough for the two strands) it is surprising how often that will blend in really well

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    2. 👍 Thanks.

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  9. I hope you have been able to pass on these skills to another generation now, Mindo. I'm teaching Rosie to sew.

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  10. I think we should all go back to mending once more. I used to darn my dad's woollen socks when I was about 12 years old. I loved the wooden darning mushroom. I wonder if you can still get them? That label is wonderful! I would love to buy some!

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  11. I still use a darning mushroom. You occasionally see them in Charity shops. But as I've taught my girls, you can always use a potato or an orange!

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