I started off my mammoth mend with a rain coat that had a broken button, a missing button and problems with the seams under both arms. It was a frustratingly slow mend to start off with and took up the entire morning. I began to wonder whether I was being ridiculously idealistic about the whole mending thing and whether I could really justify spending hours mending one jacket.  As the day went on though I felt more relaxed, the mending got easier and time flew. In the end I actually really enjoyed the day.

As I was mending things I was thinking that each mend might be the first of many mends.  We have a backpack (the one mentioned earlier) which we take everywhere with us when we go out with the kids and we have mended and mended it. Things wear out.  Better quality things last longer and taking good care of them helps but eventually almost everything that gets used will wear out.  So the mends I did yesterday may well just be the beginning in a long line of mends on each item.

It got me thinking about two things:

1. there is no better incentive to only buy good quality long lasting items than the prospect that things can’t just be chucked out and replaced i.e. I will have to mend them when they break and that
2. although I did enjoy my day of peace and quiet and mending, if I’m going to be mending things regularly it would have been more fun if I had some company (and I would be more likely to do the mending more frequently).

I didn’t need to spend a whole day mending by myself, some of the mends only took me 5 to 10 minutes. I could have very easily done a mend or two an evening while watching tv with my husband.

I also could mend in the company of other menders:

• I could go to the monthly Brighton Repair Cafe – find out about them here, although they are more there to help with mends that people don’t know how to do themselves, or
• I could start up or look for a more local mending group…  I’m now getting why people go to stitch and b*tch or the more politely named knit and natter groups

Earlier today, the velcro bit on one of the kids bags (one of those free ones that you get from those lovely library bookstart packs) got caught on a rug and I tugged it a bit too hard and the velcro came away from the bag a bit.

You know that old saying ‘a stitch in time saves nine’, well I hadn’t given it much thought before.  In fact I had given it zero thought, until I looked at the velcro and said to myself  ‘a stitch in time saves nine’. At this point it suddenly clicked what that phrase was about.

We’ve been continuing to use some things that are broken and worn without fixing them and in lots of cases they are just getting more broken and worn. It does make a lot of sense to fix things before they get worse. I felt a bit like I had suddenly stepped back in time and had an insight into what life used to be like. The phrase really shows how significant a part of people’s lives making do and mending used to be. Impressively it isn’t just a phrase – very cleverly ‘a stitch in time saves nine’ is also an anagram for ‘this is meant as an incentive’ (I didn’t work that out myself – I found it out here).

So instead of ignoring the problem or adding it to the mending pile (which is my usual trick), I fixed it.  I also noticed there was a bit of rip in the bag and fixed that too with some rather messy sewing – as you can see in the pictures above!

I am currently undertaking a Year of Eco Challenges . If you have a moment I would really appreciate it if you would consider sponsoring me with an action on my DoNation page. Also if you liked this post please click like on Facebook and follow on Twitter – thanks so much!