Making and Remaking!

It's been a red letter day today!

Daisy our new furry friend, was let off the lead,

 for the first time and behaved perfectly.

She does have her mischievous side though but more of that later

I wanted to blog today about repairing old garments.

I recently discovered, a blogger by the name

of 'tomofholland', who has started something called,

 The Visible Mending Programme. He is trying to highlight

the art and craftmanship of clothes repair and wearing a 

beautiful darn, as a badge of honour.

This immediately struck a chord with me, 

as my ethos is, 'lost and found, recycle and renew'.

In the spirit of this, I decided to tackle a favourite 

sweater that I had bought in a Brighton charity shop,

on a visit to my sons. 

It is made from pure wool and is so comfy, I was

reluctant to part with it for a hole in the sleeve.

I must admit that I didn't darn the hole, I used crochet!

I found a very fine crochet hook 2.5mm and some darning

wool, and chained around the hole. I then, crocheted a row of

double crochet, decreasing every other stitch. 

I repeated this row until the hole was filled and there were no stitches left.

It has given, my jumper new life and a new story to tell.

I will wear it with pride.

On the same theme but using  a different method.

I blogged a while ago about making a new version of 

this sweater, that I loved but had had it's day.

I decided to give it a face lift, instead of consigning it to the scrapheap.

I sewed up the seams and bound the cuffs, with material.

I was given some bits of clamshell patchwork, which I think was going to

be a tea cosy. I loved the colours, which would be perfect for my project.

 I sewed the large block, to the back of the sweater

and individual pieces to mask the holes in the front.

I'm pleased with the result and have been wearing it, all week.

It reminded me of the way clothes were repurposed and remade,

 during World War 2. I think it is something to be embraced in our

throw away culture!

Everything these days seems to have built in obsolescence.

If this carries on, we will be drowning in waste.

Okay, getting off my soapbox now!

Oh I nearly forgot.......

This was Daisy's little naughtiness.

This is Mr C's hand knitted sock

after she had chewed it. 

Guess what I'll be doing this weekend.

Hope it's not a lost cause!