Even though the Worldwide Recession ™ seems to be coming to an end, there has been a lot of talk lately about making do and mending. The last series for the Cast On podcast looked at this topic from a knitting point of view, and for a while someone was tweeting Made Do and Mend tips through the name @MrsSewandSew. There is a also a book avaliable that contains reprints of the British government’s wartime pamphlets: Make Do and Mend (Historic Booklet Series)
Now, I will admit that though money is a bit tight around here right now, I haven’t been as thrifty as I could be. But I find the whole Make Do and Mend movement very inspiring. I think it is a bit different this time around, though. With such inexpensive clothing available in chain stores, it is often cheaper to buy things than to make them. Take the socks I knit, the least expensive pair cost me about CAN$10 to make (possibly less, since I can probably get another pair of anklets out of the ball). That is very expensive for store-bought socks, but I suspect these will last me much longer and they are custom made for my feet. I think it is a matter now of making things that will last longer, or learning to repair and re-purpose what we already have.
The BBC is running a new series on Newsnight that looks that the Make Do and Mend movement in Britain. You can read about their take on the movement here.
Hopefully we will continue to move away from the buy-everything-and-throw-it-away society we have been living in, and continue moving towards a way of living where we think about all of our resources and learn to make do and make things work.
And on a totally different topic, don’t forget that today is Day 6 of Missy Ann’s 13 Days of Halloween. Head on over to enter.