My latest quilt

I've completed my second quilt. This one was a much easier one than the first,  as instead of blocks,  I went for a simple patchwork.

Again it was all done by hand - apart from the attachment of one side of the binding. I like hand sewing - but have to admit that this one was a lot more boring than the traditional block quilt - especially the actual quilting. I've put a little tutorial on the website on binding a quilt.

The quilt is long  and narrow as I wanted it to use as a throw across the end of my bed. I was still nervous about undertaking a full size one - fearing I'd get bored before the end, but now that I have two under my belt and enjoyed making them both I think that's unlikely. If I were to do another simple patchwork one like this I think I might succumb to the sewing machine - at least for joining the long strips.

I'm not sure what my next project will be - I may try a jellyroll quilt and take advantage of the gorgeous fabrics I have accumulated in my stash.

Clare

Is it really time to reach for Designer Labels again?

In a recent issue of the Daily Mail, Naomi Greenaway wrote “Last Thursday, just as I was leaving the house for a business appointment, my cleaner arrived - wearing exactly the same dress as I was. A £15 H&M special. She was about to scrub the loo. I was heading off to do an interview.”
Her headline asked “When you find your cleaner wearing the same outfit as you, isn't it time to reach for designer labels again?”

Here at Make it and Mend it, we believe the answer to that is NO! Don’t get me wrong, this does not mean that we're anti designer clothing. Far from it. We just believe that there is a time and a place for it. Apart from a cringeworthy display of snobbery, Naomi is encouraging people to spend money that they don’t have. We're in the midst of a recession and many people are out of work and struggling to pay their mortgages and household bills, so clothes are unfortunately way down the list of priorities for most people.

To give her credit, Naomi does apologise for sounding like a snob, but, she argues “I'm done with fashion communism. I don't want to live in a world where everyone wears the same cut-price outfit like Chinese peasants in Chairman Mao jackets.”

Which I think most of us would agree with. We like to be individual, but she does rather destroy this argument when she goes on to say:
“But now everyone from your granny to your cleaner is wearing it, too - and I'd rather go out naked, thanks”.

Not only is she being ageist, classist, but later in the article fattist as well:
“We like our clothes to reflect who we are, but when they're also a reflection of the fat woman on the train, the annoying teenager and the cleaner, it creates an uncomfortable dissonance.”

Putting the debate about snobbery aside, within this diatribe there were a couple grains of importance and truth – she does make a fair point about cheap clothing not being cheap when we buy in the ridiculous bulk that some people do, but I think the most important point is - do we all have to look the same?

Naomi claims that “Unlike good old-fashioned snobbery, where subtlety is key, this inverse snobbery about what you pay for clothes and shoes is constantly rubbed in our faces. It's all about buying cheap and bragging about it. That's all very well, but as thousands of other women and I are discovering, it means running into scores of women dressed the same as you.”

It seems she fears that we are all becoming clones. She maintains the only answer to this is to designer-shop our way out of this, but is this answer? Ok you may be getting a better quality of clothing, but you'll still find others wearing the same as you. You will just become a better 'class' of clone.

We firmly believe that this is not the only answer. There are many ways of maintaining an individual style without becoming a clone.

With a little thought, creativity and possibly the use of a needle, you can create and adapt an amazing individually styled wardrobe. It is not about how much you spend, it is about how you wear it and how you put it together. Gok Wan’s programme on Channel 4 demonstrates this brilliantly. Gok is the champion of the high street chic. But he takes a basic item and fashions it into something that looks original and fabulously expensive; week after week winning the catwalk vote against designer labels at ten times the price.

And people are wising up to this. Sales of sewing machines are rising rapidly. Sewing courses are springing up all over the country. There really is no need to go out looking like a clone or to spend your month’s mortgage on a pair of shoes.

Naomi's article suggests that a desire to go designer shopping is more about a need to be noticed than buying quality.

“Research shows that when women shop, it is not necessarily related to how much money they have to spend but what is going on in their minds,” says KarenPine. Author of Sheconomics . She claims that people shop “to cheer themselves up, when their boyfriends have dumped them, when they are not getting on with their husbands, when they've had a bad day. The thinking is ‘I work damned hard, I deserve a reward'.”

Unfortunately it is these emotional triggers that are exploited to sell unsuitable products that waste our money.

Shopping for unnecessary products taps into our need to be validated by others.
“Ever since I bought the Choo beauties a few months ago, I'd been waiting for the perfect moment to show them off - and relishing the purrs of approval they were bound to garner from my female friends” says Naomi Greenaway.

This says more about her possible lack of self-esteem than it does about the shoes themselves. It is about the Jimmy Choos enabling her to become the envy of her friend.

But horror of horrors:
“ ..when I wore them at dinner last week, no one noticed them, they were so bowled over by my other friend's lumps of canvas and cork which cost less than a bottle of wine.”

Sadly this is something we have all experienced – being upstaged by our friends. Let’s face it. How many of us get to be the princess in the school play? But what it does highlight is that even spending a fortune on a pair of shoes does not mark us out from the crowd, or make us feel ‘different’. We don’t need to spend money to feel good about ourselves.

Pine goes on to say in her book “It soon became obvious to me that most women's financial problems were either the result of, or complicated by, their underlying attitude to money, alongside a variety of personal issues or self-limiting beliefs”.

It's unfortunate that the term “retail therapy” has become common parlance and is frequently used by TV and women's magazines in an upbeat, even sisterly way to make us feel it's ok to carry on shopping, without any thought to paying the bills and what other psychological issues we might be trying to cover up.

It's time we started to redress the balance and highlight the fact that we don’t need to continually spend vast amounts of money on our wardrobes. The occasional splurge is great and picking a up a designer bargain is sheer heaven, but in between times, it should be more about how you wear your clothes rather than how much you spend. Creating something out of nothing and an individual style will give you a far bigger and a longer lasting boost to your ego than a trip to Prada ever will. Especially as there is no nasty after taste when the bill comes in.

My final response to Naomi is that she should think about what is motivating her in her desire to be different and why she feels that she has to spend so much money to validate her existence. Making, styling and altering would make her feel much better about herself than the quick fix shopping trip. My advice, girls, would be - Save the money on the Jimmy Choos and buy a sewing machine!
(Hilary)

Do we have the skills for frugal fashion?

I read a very interesting piece by Angelique Chrisafis in the Guardian this morning, about wartime, ration-book fashion in Paris.

The French capital is hosting an exhibition at the Jean Moulin Museum to celebrate the ingenious ways French women, under the Nazi Occupation, managed to stay fashionable, using all manner of materials from scraps of cellophane, to bits of straw and from pieces of wood to fabric from old sofas. The platform shoes in the photograph were fashioned out of blocks of wood and pieces of canvas. As hot water was scarce, a new fashion was created when les femmes de Paris took to wearing turbans (made from paper or straw) to disguise their dirty locks.

The article quotes one of the show's organisers, Fabienne Falluel the fasion historian: "Women knew how to sew, and in that dark period they still took ideas from magazines and the street, but they made the pieces themselves. Today people don't necessarily know how to sew - we're still in a culture of consumption where the instinct is to buy, not make. But you'll see, people will soon start learning." I do hope you're right Fabienne.

There has always been a small (and recently growing) section of the population that possesses the skill of sewing and takes pleasure from making clothes and using unusual and interesting materials to do so. The sad fact remains that this is a significantly smaller proportion of the populace than was the case during the War, or even 20 to 30 years ago.

The disappearance or reduction of the domestic sciences from school curricula must account for some of this loss of skill. But if people really wanted to learn to sew they could have learned from mothers and grandmothers. The fact that they haven't, lies with Mde Falluel's point that we are living in a culture of consumption.

I grew up knowing how to sew. My mother was a good role model and I was taught at school. As a teenager, I made most of my own clothes and could follow a pattern with ease. Until I had a go at making a simple summer shift dress last year, I had not touched a sewing machine in 25 years.

Why is this? Lack of time maybe? - but had I really wanted (or needed) to do it I could have made time. There was a period in my life when I was a heavy spender on fashion and happy to pay for designer names, so there was no place in my life then for something run up on the old Singer. Most importantly and enduringly since, clothes simply cost too little to justify the time and effort to make them yourself. As a result many of us have acquired the behaviour of buy and wear for a season then chuck it away and buy new. At least my years of designer indulgence provided some classics that stood the test of time, but mostly the trend has been away from classics to disposable chic. Wear today, bin tomorrow. In such a climate of consumption there is no place for sewing. Creativity is reserved for mixing bought pieces together, not for fashion resourcefulness.

Is Mme Falluel right in saying we will start learning? Yes I believe she is. Making your own clothes is not just about thrift. There is also the creativity that goes into not just the making, but in the unique combination of fabric and pattern that makes your garment unlike any other. There is also the huge sense of pride and personal achievement that goes into wearing something you have created yourself. Careful fitting and adjustment of the pattern means there is also the means to ensure your garment fits you like a glove.

Looking at the craft-based blogosphere with the explosion of people show-casing their handiwork and the ever-increasing number selling their creations on sites like Etsy, indicates that we are seeing the start of a revolution. The recent dramatic increase in sales of sewing machines and haberdashery items backs this up.

Let's hope we will never face a need as great as the ladies of 1940s Paris, but that we will in future be able to apply a similar level of resourcefulness and skill to the creation of our own unique and stylish clothes.

Your advice to a novice make and mender?

"I've never done this kind of thing before - I have no confidence - I don't know where to start"
We often hear this from people who want to live more creatively and sustainably but aren't sure where and how to start. So I decided to share some suggestions and invite all our readers to chip in with your ideas too.

The projects I have chosen here cover different areas of making and mending and share the following points in common:

• Fast to do - so there's a quick win - always good when you are starting something new (there's nothing worse than starting but not finishing something and then feeling guilty about it)
• Produce big, visible results - so you'll feel it's been worthwhile and a good return on the time and energy you've invested. They'll make a difference to your life or your surroundings.
  
• Easy - so this should give you confidence and enthusiasm to continue and to move on to bigger and more ambitious projects
• Cheap - ideally you can do them with materials you already have.

So that's the brief. Here's my suggestions. Please tell us yours. We'll put 'em on the makeitandmendit website - with instructons how to do.

Get into Gardening - try growing courgettes (zucchini)



This choice was based on seeds (cheap) and vegetables (thrifty) - growing from seed can seem a bit risky, a bit slow and a bit chancy if you haven't tried before. So go for courgettes. They have big seeds (a bit like melom seeds) so they're very easy to handle and plant and don't require all that thinning and pricking out. They grow quite fast and are easy to grow. They also produce yellow flowers so you'll have some floral interest and colour as well as eventual vegetable bounty! - and you can bung 'em in the freezer after - and live off them for ages.

Get into Sewing - by making a cushion cover



Cushion covers are super easy and require no special techniques - you don't need to put zips in - you can either sew up all four sides or add a flap and a couple of buttons. You can make a few cushion covers in an hour or so and will have an instant impact on your room. Here's our instructions on cushion cover making

Get into knitting - by sewing blanket squares
If you are a complete novice knitter then starting off by knitting some simple garter stitch squares for charity is a brilliant way to learn. You can use odd balls of yarn and in no time at all you'll have a square - and the satisfaction of knowing it's helping someone needy to stay warm. Loads of charities have schemes - we like this one - and on their website there are step-by-step instructions.

Get into cooking - use some leftovers


One of the easiest recipes for leftovers is bubble and squeak. Very old fashioned - but real comfort food and so easy to do. Here's some other ideas for cooking with leftovers
But then you have to have cooked in the first place to have leftovers - so if you are a super novice then try a spaghetti bolognese - very easy, very forgiving and very tasty.

Get into DIY - hang some pictures
I'm almost embarrassed to include this but I do know people who are afraid to bang a nail in a wall. Just pick your spot. Get a hammer. Get a nail. Bang it in. Hang the picture - et voila'! Instant room transformation.
So those are my top of the head suggestions. What are yours? Please post your ideas in the Comments below

10 ways to update your wardrobe without spending a fortune

It’s spring and the temptation to go out and buy a new wardrobe is huge; but in the current economic crisis few of us can afford to go on a shopping spree. Frugality is important, but one of the most important things in a recession is YOU: you are your most valuable asset and how you package yourself is vital to your success. So what can you do to ensure that you look your best, without spending a fortune?

Here are 10 tips for looking good on a budget.

1) Sort out your wardrobe – most of us have wardrobes that are overflowing with long forgotten items of clothing that should be either worn or passed on to a new home.

Firstly, put aside the ‘no brainers’; the clothes that you truly love and make you feel great and you know you will wear again.
Next go through what is left with a really discerning eye. Ask yourself a few simple questions.
Does it fit?
Do you truly like it?
Does the colour flatter you?
Does it make you feel really good?

Anything that doesn’t tick any of the boxes should be put aside into a separate pile that you can then go through and decide if items can be altered to fit or give a new lease of life, or whether it is past redemption and should go to the charity shop.

After eliminating the dead weight, what remains should be old favourites that are ready to be rediscovered and added to your daily wardrobe. It's time to organize and put everything back into your wardrobe and organise them in the following way.
• By type of clothes: shirts together, trousers together, skirts together, dresses together
• Shortest to longest: short sleeves to long sleeves, shorts to trousers,
• By colour--light to dark: beige short sleeves, beige long sleeves, brown shorts, brown trousers
Now you are ready to explore your wardrobe properly.

2) Learn to Sew
Buying a sewing machine and learning to sew is one of the best investments you can make. Even if you just know the basics, being able to sew can save you a lot of money and waste. With even the most basic sewing skills you’ll be able to fix rips and tears, replace buttons and alter the sizing to fit.
And if you keep practising you could eventually be making your own clothes from scratch. Making your own clothes doesn’t have to cost a fortune. If you are canny and adopt the true Make it and Mend it style, you could find fabric all over the place: such as old curtains, sheets, tablecloths and fancy scarves and even vintage items and fabrics.

3) Clothing Repair
Just because your clothes might have holes or rips, be missing buttons and not fit properly, does not mean that you have to throw them away.
With some very basic sewing skills clothes can be given a new lease of life.
• Trousers and skirts that are too long can be hemmed
• Rips and tears can be mended
• Replace missing buttons
• Replace or repair zips
• Soak whites in pre-wash whiteners to give them a fresh, new, brilliant whiteness
• Polish and re-heel your shoes - getting rid of scuffs will lift everything you wear and radically improve your appearance
• Shine and mend your jewellery - you can rediscover old favourites. (For silver jewellery try this great "free" polishing trick)


4) Adapt - Making Old Things New Before you throw something away think about if there’s any way you can do it up, modernise it or otherwise revamp it. Clothes that no longer fit too well or that have some tears or holes in them can be made into a brand new outfit. Trousers can be shortened to form Capri pants or shorts. Dresses can become skirts. A jacket that is too tight to fasten at the waist can either have the buttons moved to allow more space or be shortened into a cropped jacket that buttons at the bust line. Add a couple of button accents on the sleeve near the wrist and a patch pocket from the leftover material and no one will recognize it as the same old jacket. New buttons can breathe new life into a coat.
Sprucing up your wardrobe can be fun and creative. With a little time and effort you can have something new to wear that is stylish and individual. Go out there and visit those arts and crafts stores, keep those extra buttons from clothes that you are getting rid of, and fabric scraps, because you never know what new article of clothing they can help you create.

5) Think like a fashion stylist
Now comes the fun part – creating a new look. Mix and match your pieces and see how they can be worn in new ways. Try layering, clashing colours and combining smart with casual clothes. Get creative or use magazines for inspiration, you'll be amazed at how many new outfits you can create with the pieces you already own.

6) Have a clothes swap party
Gather your friends and swap clothes, footwear and accessories for free. Clothes swapping or Swishing is a great way of recycling your unwanted clothes and, at the same time, the chance of bagging yourself a real bargain. One woman's cast offs are another girl's steal. Get some tips on how to do this.

7) Accessorise, accessorise, accessorise
Invest in accessories. If you know how to match accessories with your outfit, you will look stylish. Buying accessories would actually cost less and will update your wardrobe immediately. Scarves, belts, bangles, bags and shoes are great for re-energising a tired outfit or creating a completely new look for a well used dress.

Accessories needn’t cost the earth. Make friends with your local charity and vintage shops and keep your eyes out for those fabulous pieces that will revolutionise your wardrobe.

8) Shop for what you need, not what you want
Having sorted out your wardrobe you now know what is missing and what you can’t live without. If you do have to buy something new, think carefully about what you buy. Don't obsess over the latest must-have: focus on what you need to round out your wardrobe instead. Do you really need a 10th pair of flip flops or another little black dress? No, but perhaps that fabulous statement necklace is just the thing to make your little black dress or classic white shirt pop.

Remember the key to savvy dressing is ‘quality over quantity’. Fashion editors follow the 70/30 rule which means that 70% of your closet space should hold the classic pieces, while the remaining 30% should be reserved for the seasonal pieces. It is never easy to shop on a tight budget, but you can do it if you stick to the basics. Classic pieces never go out of style and can be wearable in whatever season you are in. Invest in quality. Make sure that anything you buy makes you feel fabulous and always go for flattering cuts and simple, yet stylish, silhouettes that will last for years.

8). Invest in quality pieces that are flexible and are capable of multitasking.
Only invest in pieces that can be worn to a variety of different events - day or night, casual or dressy affairs. Also try to focus on pieces that can cross the seasons, with clever layering, clothes can be worn all year round


9) Highlight your wardrobe with cheap chic trendy pieces
Only when you have gone through the other stages are you ready to go out and buy the fun fashion pieces. Whilst the majority of your wardrobe should consist of quality pieces that will last, a few well places fashion items will lift your wardrobe and bring it slap up to date without costing a fortune. And don't forget, vintage can be a great way to add fabulous pieces at reasonable prices. Have a look at Catwalk Creative for some eco friendly fashion pieces

10) Take care of your clothes
Finally the most important bit of advice - Take good care of your clothes and you'll wear them for years. Clothes care tips.

STOP PRESS! Take the Pledge
If you want support and an incentive to remake your wardrobe check out Wardrobe Refashion.
This has been going for a few years and particpants pledge to abstain from the purchase of new manufactured clothing for the period of 2, 4, 6 months or LIFE. They pledge to refashion, renovate, and recycle preloved items with their own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium or make their own from scratch. Anyone falling off the wagon has to confess by displaying a "Get out of Reafshionista Jail Free" card. Check it out - there's loads of examplesto give you support and inspiration.

Still sewing strong at 90

Our Make it and Mend it Heroine of the Day today is an old lady, Ida Mulert, from Iowa in the USA. At 90 she is still sewing and mending, a hobby she has enjoyed for the past 80 years.

Ida made clothing for her ten children as they grew up and now she continues to make for grandchildren and friends - every new grandchild receives a homemade quilt. Ida still does the mending for her family and helps out with mending and sewing as a volunteer in a residential home.

We'd love to hear about other old people who are still "making it and mending it". Post us your stories and pictures - below or to mail@makeitandmendit.com

Make it and Mend it - a call to revolution!

For too long we have been accustomed to buying stuff and then when it breaks or gets a bit worn, chucking it away and getting something new.

This isn't just wasteful, it is also expensive and these days as we are tightening our belts, it makes sense to start making do and mending.

This blog and our growing website will chronicle the movement to make do and mend: helping you remodel that garment, shift that stain, or mend that light fitting. We will highlight inspirational examples, share tips and ideas and pass on useful information for living more creatively and sustainably.

Please check out http://www.makeitandmendit.com and send us your own tips and suggestions too.

The blog will focus on news and stories and examples of people who are living Make it and Mend it (we call it MIAMI). It is meant to be a source of inspiration on how to recycle, reuse, adapt, repair, make and refashion.

We heard an inspiring story this week, which shows it's not just women that are making and mending. This young man has shown that what Granny knows can turn into a lucrative business and set you on the road to becoming an entrepreneur.

Fraser Doherty, 19, dropped out of university to devote more time to his fledgling jam-making business. This started out as a kitchen table enterprise and grew from the passion Fraser developed for jam-making after being taught at age 14 by his grandmother. He got up to 1000 jars a week in his parents' kitchen before moving the business into a factory. He is now selling half a million jars a year, under the brand name Superjam and the business is growing fast.

Recognising what he owes to his grandmother, Fraser has launched a charity, "Superjam Tea Parties" to get old people socialising over tea (and jam!) at community centres across the country.

We really like this idea of acknowledging the contribution older people have made to society and can still make. One of our missions at Make it and Mend it is to tap into the vast knowledge and skill base of older people and find ways to bring this experience to the forefront. As part of this Jam Boy (as he is known) has supported the elderly folks in a nationwide Knitathon to knit squares to amke blankets for for Indian orphans. To find out more about Fraser and his Super Jam parties have a look at his SuperJam Blog.

Do you know of any inspirational role models? Do you have ideas on how to share the knowledge and skills of older people? Are you in touch with a local community group that is doing this?
Contact us below or on info@makeitandmendit.com
See also our website post on Knitting a square to help a child
Meet the MIAMI team