This is a really inspiring read. Thank you Cat! I adore the animal themed mending. Those clothes look so much more interesting and personal than before they were mended.
Loved this post, Cat! I've had three thin jumpers for years, bought in Peru, gorgeous colours. But they bobble badly, and I dislike bobbly sweaters. One had a hole in the sleeve. Still, I recently decided to give them another chance (those colours!) and I bought a 4-leaf clover patch (iron-on) to hide the hole. Looks great! Like you, I hate throwing clothes away. And rather than buying stuff new, I purchase on Vinted at a fraction of the cost.
Well done for fixing it! I'm a relative newcomer to vinted, but I think it's great! I deliberately don't have the app on my phone because that could get dangerous (and expensive)...
Just as you’ve influenced my love of moths greatly, you’ve always influenced my mending habits. I love, love, love visible mending. Thanks for being you!
Aaahhh! Mending DOES matter! It's the future. I am an avud mender of socks, and I had the pleasure of interviewing Katrina many moons ago, such an inspiring woman. I am also finding that the things I probably should be writing, I.e. relevant to my craft/s are wildly absent just now - is it because its winter still? But hey, its all relevant to *us* aye?!
I don’t think you are changing your themes. Mending and eels are related because your mind is open to what is happening around you. I wear my clothes forever—T-shirts with unraveling cuffs at home, festive clothing stored in a hamper. I considered becoming a fiber artist using hand stitching but switched to painting instead. Enough manual labor; I eschew mending my cuffs.
Another really interesting read Cat and no you don't fit in a category or box but why would you want too? I like your varied musings. Really like the moth of the week addition. I mend a lot of jeans in our household and jumpers munched on by the dreaded clothes moth, eldest son recently got asked by one of his pupils why his jumper had so many different coloured spots on it so he said 'thats where my mum has repaired the moth holes', he said his pupils couldn't understand why he didn't just throw it away and buy a new one. Hopefully he can educate them in sustainability as well as teaching them guitar.
We were brought up to buy quality not quantity as my nana was a tailoress and had very strong views about this, yes ive definitely got too many clothes but some of them are older than my oldest lad and he turns 30 this year, :D
Shocking to me that people only wear an item of clothing 7 times. I think I have too many clothes now and I have very few pieces of clothing compared to my peers. I will wear things until they are ready for the rag bag, and I've mended the mends.
Being totally incompetent with a needle and thread I’d probably better avoid commenting on your main theme! But I like the ‘Moth of the Week’ idea. I’ve yet to come across T. semifulvella, although I do get T. trinotella occasionally. Interestingly, the Sussex Moth Group website lists the food source for semifulvella as the fur of dead foxes, without mentioning birds’ nests!
Love my speed weave and completely agree that fewer better quality clothes is much better on all counts. I do find repairs tend to create more weakness so you need to keep adding to the darn. It can get a bit frustrating.
Yes, speedweaves are great! There's definitely a limit to how much things can be repaired - sometimes there's just no decent fabric left to attach darns or patches to. I had to give up on a favourite pair of jeans last year, as they'd reached the stage of being much more patch than jean!
This is a really inspiring read. Thank you Cat! I adore the animal themed mending. Those clothes look so much more interesting and personal than before they were mended.
Thanks! I find the process much more enjoyable if I'm creating some sort of creature.
Loved this post, Cat! I've had three thin jumpers for years, bought in Peru, gorgeous colours. But they bobble badly, and I dislike bobbly sweaters. One had a hole in the sleeve. Still, I recently decided to give them another chance (those colours!) and I bought a 4-leaf clover patch (iron-on) to hide the hole. Looks great! Like you, I hate throwing clothes away. And rather than buying stuff new, I purchase on Vinted at a fraction of the cost.
Well done for fixing it! I'm a relative newcomer to vinted, but I think it's great! I deliberately don't have the app on my phone because that could get dangerous (and expensive)...
Just as you’ve influenced my love of moths greatly, you’ve always influenced my mending habits. I love, love, love visible mending. Thanks for being you!
It's definitely time I did another turtle-themed mend somewhere!
Aaahhh! Mending DOES matter! It's the future. I am an avud mender of socks, and I had the pleasure of interviewing Katrina many moons ago, such an inspiring woman. I am also finding that the things I probably should be writing, I.e. relevant to my craft/s are wildly absent just now - is it because its winter still? But hey, its all relevant to *us* aye?!
Yes, it's all relevant! 😁
I don’t think you are changing your themes. Mending and eels are related because your mind is open to what is happening around you. I wear my clothes forever—T-shirts with unraveling cuffs at home, festive clothing stored in a hamper. I considered becoming a fiber artist using hand stitching but switched to painting instead. Enough manual labor; I eschew mending my cuffs.
Another really interesting read Cat and no you don't fit in a category or box but why would you want too? I like your varied musings. Really like the moth of the week addition. I mend a lot of jeans in our household and jumpers munched on by the dreaded clothes moth, eldest son recently got asked by one of his pupils why his jumper had so many different coloured spots on it so he said 'thats where my mum has repaired the moth holes', he said his pupils couldn't understand why he didn't just throw it away and buy a new one. Hopefully he can educate them in sustainability as well as teaching them guitar.
We were brought up to buy quality not quantity as my nana was a tailoress and had very strong views about this, yes ive definitely got too many clothes but some of them are older than my oldest lad and he turns 30 this year, :D
I always think anything I've bought since Boy was born is quite new - then I remember he's 14 now! 😆
I honestly don’t know where the time goes, its abit disconcerting
Shocking to me that people only wear an item of clothing 7 times. I think I have too many clothes now and I have very few pieces of clothing compared to my peers. I will wear things until they are ready for the rag bag, and I've mended the mends.
The seven wears figure really shocked me too!
Being totally incompetent with a needle and thread I’d probably better avoid commenting on your main theme! But I like the ‘Moth of the Week’ idea. I’ve yet to come across T. semifulvella, although I do get T. trinotella occasionally. Interestingly, the Sussex Moth Group website lists the food source for semifulvella as the fur of dead foxes, without mentioning birds’ nests!
Oh, that's interesting. There aren't any foxes on the island, so it must also eat something else! I think my micromoth book mentioned nests.
Yes most sources mention nests … the Sussex Moth Group website is the outlier!
Love my speed weave and completely agree that fewer better quality clothes is much better on all counts. I do find repairs tend to create more weakness so you need to keep adding to the darn. It can get a bit frustrating.
Yes, speedweaves are great! There's definitely a limit to how much things can be repaired - sometimes there's just no decent fabric left to attach darns or patches to. I had to give up on a favourite pair of jeans last year, as they'd reached the stage of being much more patch than jean!