Council orders grandmother to dig up beloved garden to store unsightly wheelie bins

This headline appeared in one of the papers this weekend. Admittedly it was the Daily Mail and so there's always the temptation to take it with a pinch of salt, but it seems that this story is true….or at least according to various news agencies. 

Why didn’t I believe it at first? Because at no point in this story does it make sense!  If it does to you, can you please explain it to me?

I'm all in favour of sensible recycling, but Harlow Council have brought in two large wheelie bins and a collecting box to collect recycling.  Unfortunately for Sandra St John, she has nowhere to store them. At first the council suggested that she keep them out the back and manhandle them through her house on collections days. When she pointed out the impracticality of this, they told her she must pave over her lovingly tended front garden to make room for the two big bins.   Understandably Joan was upset: she's tended the roses and lavenders in her garden for 22 years and was attached to her garden.

A lot of local flooding is being blamed on people paving over their front gardens so that they can park.  This large scale paving of front gardens is apparently displacing the water and causing all sorts of flooding issues as well as destroying wildlife in urban areas. Last year the RHS flower show championed designs for front gardens that allowed for off road parking, whilst still remaining environmentally friendly. 
Moreover, as of October 2008, there are regulations in place to stop people randomly paving over their front gardens and you now have to apply for planning permission. Yet here we have a local council actually advocating this!

What I also don’t understand is why, when Sandra is quite content with the recycling baskets she currently has and feels no need for any more, is the council foisting these giant wheelie bins on her…and god only knows how much the production of these monsters bins puts on our environment.  
Why can’t we just go back to weekly collections and recycling rates might even rise, as already proven by Gedling Borough Council in Nottinghamshire who when, they finally did a U-turn on weekly collections found that their recycling rates rose dramatically.
Even more to the point, why aren’t the government and the local councils encouraging us to reuse things rather than send them to recycling. We really don’t need any more encouragement to throw things away. How about supporting the MIAMI take on life and go back to the old skills. What alternative use can you find for those old curtains, those empty jars, that bubble wrap, all that compost material for your garden?

Come on guys, lets get a little perspective on this whole recycling lark  and think before your throw….because, as we keep saying,

life’s too good to throw away.

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.

Father's Day - thinking of role models

My dear old Dad died 20 years ago this year, so it's a long time since I have had to think about Father's Day gifts. Not that he was that bothered when he was alive, dismissing it as a piece of invented commercialism that did not have the longevity and stature of Mother's Day.

At Make it and Mend it we have been talking a lot about make and mend role models, since Hilary wrote her piece about her mother making dresses for her out of her Dad's old shirts.

My father was a great role model for DIY and gardening, despite the lack of a paternal role model himself as he lost his own dad when only 12 years old.

With Father's Day looming (at least in the UK it is - why does every country seem to celebrate these days at different dates?) we thought it would be a good idea to ask our readers to tell us about their own fathers. If like mine and Hilary's they came from a wartime generation, making do and mending will have been in the blood. But what about those of you with much younger parents? Did they also pass on the make and mend gene? Tell us about yours in Comments below.

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

Love it or hate it ? - Lakeland

I have long had a love-hate relationship with Lakeland (or as I still somehow want to call it, Lakeland Plastics). My kitchen drawers are replete with Lakeland gadgetry, the shelves of my home office are regimented by their plastic files and they have also begun to advance upon my garden.

Lakeland, founded in Windermere in the 1960s and now run by the founder's three sons, has mastered the art of the "I have to have that" factor in kitchen wizardry. Their colourful catalogue arrives complete with a chatty letter from Wendy, the Customer Ambassador, who has taken on the epistolary duties of Michelle the Marketing Director who sadly passed away a couple of years ago. When the catalogue lands on the doormat it is hard not to grab it and curl up on the sofa to test one's self control. Do I really need that bag to keep my potatoes fresh? Yes I know I keep meaning to take up baking, but if I splash out on a collection of non-stick bakeware will it languish untouched in the kitchen cupboard along with so many other symbols of my good intentions?

There is a lot to love about Lakeland - but also a lot to feel uneasy about. As well as providing some brilliant solutions to everyday problems, they are also creating needs that are so non-esssential as to be bordering on eccentricity. I often try to imagine the Lakeland "heavy user". She (for it is surely a she) must have the largest kitchen on the planet, with expansive worksurfaces to carry and display such must-have items as the Flexicado: "for getting the most out of an avocado", a collection of "ice cream sandwich moulds", a plastic banana guard, a plastic "avocado saver" (evidently very demanding of gadgetry are these avocados!), and my personal favoutite, the Tea Tool for squeezing your tea bags. There are bowls designed specially for storing berries, 3 in 1 pineapple slicers, strawberry hullers, herb mincing machines, corn strippers and lettuce shears (what's wrong with a pair of hands?). These types of gadgets are so specialist, that by the time you needed to use them you'd have forgotten you even had them.

So as a make and mender, I'm in two minds about Lakeland. They sell all the essentials to encourage a more creative and sustainable way of living, from making jam to growing spuds, but they also seem to be indulging our worst tendencies towards consumerism. What do you think?

Calling "DIY virgins" - here's the book for you

Following our piece yesterday on building your DIY confidence here is a great book to help you. If like me you are a bit of a DIY virgin, you need "DIY Doctor :- Know-how with Show-how". This is a perfect gift for the would-be make and mender who wants to get some confidence and gain some more skills.

The book is divided into tabbed sections covering Alterations and Repairs, Decorating & Finishing, Outdoor Repairs, Kitchens & Bathrooms, Electrics and Plumbing & Heating.

It is packed with really clear full colour photographs, taking you step by step through each of a series of the most common DIY tasks. I love it because it covers all those annoying jobs that are quite simple to do when you know how, but otherwise would have to get someone in and pay them to do it for you - like moving the strike plate on a rattling door, filling gaps between floorboards, reviving tired grouting or drilling a tile without cracking it.

Each task lists the tools and materials you'll need to get making and mending around the house and includes helpful tips and explanations, as well as the very easy-to follow illustrated steps. Navigation through the book is helped by the coloured tabs and a bar on the edge of every right hand page showing what else is in that section - a bit like website navigation bars

Fashion! Refashion! Defashion! Upfashion! Downfashion!

‘Refashion’ is a buzzword right now. Dictionaries tend to define it as making over an item or garment, but in the world of Make it and Menders it means so much more. So here’s our definition of refashioning, a few ideas on how to get started, plus some new terms that we came up with in the pub.

refashion - make something not fashionable, fashionable, provoke the envy of your friends and never again walk into a party to find someone else is wearing the same High Street bargain as you.

Take a look at what’s ‘hot’ in the fashion industry right now and pick out the signature elements. Think about what will work for you rather than what works for a 6ft super model strutting her stuff on the catwalk.

Sometimes refashioning can be as simple as taking a skirt up an inch or two. >> See our step by step guide to using iron on tape to do this Sometimes you’ll need to lengthen a hem using additional fabric. You can sometimes drop in fabric in at the waist, rather than round the hem.

Fashion signatures at the moment include the Grecian goddess look. Although it officially came in last year, it proved a hit with celebrities and is still around. This involves swathing fabric round your body so it hugs the bust and hips. An old flowing gypsy skirt or sarong might be suitable for refashioning this way.

One option is to wear something figure hugging and then swath the fabric over the top, holding it in place with safety pins. (It’s best not to dance on tables if you take this approach. Pins can let you down.)

Strong colours are also marching down the catwalk so re-acquaint yourself with Dylon dyes. >> Check out the fashion section on their website

Hilary Bruffell, our resident uber-seamstress, is passionate about refashioning: “I have a photo of me and my sisters in little dresses made from our father's old shirts and in sweater dresses knitted from old jumpers of my fathers. In my parent's very glamorous engagement photo my mother is wearing a coat that she refashioned from her mother's old coat.” See Hilary’s article on the subject. >>
In the meantime, there are some great ideas in our Clothes tips section

defashion - get rid of 'aging' fashion elements eg shoulder pads (okay we’re going back a decade or two), frills, lacy bits... The secret here is to create something that’s plainer than the original. Defashion projects often come unstuck when you try to replace last year’s fashion elements with this year’s. Keep it simple. Make it classic.

One of the simplest last-year-into-this-year defashion tricks is taking the bottom layer off a dirndl skirt (so last year). Dirndl jackets were also fashionable but they’re harder to defashion unless you have good seamstress skills. With a jacket you’ll need to remove the gathered layer, recut the removed fabric so it lies flat and sew it back into place.

upfashion - make something even more stylish using your imagination and creativity. The world (or, at least, the button box) is your oyster.
One of the simplest upfashion tips is replacing plain buttons with more ornate ones. When scouring the charity shops for clothes, check out the buttons, not just the style of the item. You may want to purchase something just for the great buttons and then use the fabric in other ways.
Sequinned appliqué patches can be added to pockets. Try crimping in waistlines on boxy jackets by adding a fab belt. (As well as buttons, it’s amazing how many beautiful belts you find in second hand and charity shops.)

downfashion - make something that’s too dressy or formal useful for everyday. For example turning a bridesmaid's dress into a Saturday night frock or turning a plunging ‘nightclub’ neckline into something you can wear around Tesco.

There are 2 key areas that need to be addressed with most defashion projects – necklines and bling. Outfits bought for weddings are a good example. They work great on the day but are a bit too up themselves for everyday wear. By the time the next wedding comes along they’re out of fashion (see defashion above).

Can an outfit be ‘separated’? A jacket may work without the skirt and vice versa. Can the bodice part be removed from a dress, leaving you with a skirt than can be dressed down – or up? (Anne has a great purple netting underskirt, originally part of an over the top dress, that she now wears with leggings and a denim jacket.)

Necklines can sometimes be made more modest with a few careful stitches or the insertion of a cloth or lace panel. Non-sewers can also try wearing a high neckline top underneath something more revealing.

Remove and hold on to the back pockets from old denim jeans and sew them on to too-smart skirts and jackets for a more down-market-but-so-fashionable look.
Oh, and remove overly-fancy buttons and replace them with plainer ones. The fancy ones are great for upfashioning. But you knew that already.