Come to Devon and make your own homemade Christmas

We've decided to emerge from  MIAMI Towers and run a real live event - and we hope you can come along and join us!

The lovely people at the beautiful Rill Estate in Devon have invited us to run a couple of one day workshops there.

We 're going to do live work sessions on card-making, fabulous show-stopping Christmas table dressings, gorgeous home-made Christmas decorations as well as gift ideas and wrapping.

You'll get all the materials provided, plus lunch and teas and coffees, the chance to meet the MIAMI team and other like-minded people in a convivial atmosphere and beautiful setting.

Who needs to be a couch potato and sit at home watching Kirstie Allsopp  pretend to make her homemade Christmas when you can do it for real?

What are you waiting for? We have 2 days available - Monday 15th or Tuesday 16th November.

>> Find out more here

Has drinking replaced hobbies?

I was talking to a friend who's living in Manila and he was telling me that the drinking culture there is even more dramatic than in the UK. Incredibly cheap "drink as much as you can before 9pm" offers abound and all everyone seems to do is hit the bars and drink themselves silly.

I'd just been telling him about what we're trying to do with Make it and Mend it and how our intent is not just to help people combat recession and live more thriftily, but to share and encourage the more positive psychological aspects of making stuff and mending it (see our blog post below on the difference between making and mending and making do and mending )

He then pointed out that the growth in drinking over recent years has been accompanied by a decline in hobbies. It's almost as though drinking has become the new hobby for millions of people (and I'm not ruling myself out !). That hadn't occurred to me before, but I think he has a point.

Once upon a time everyone had hobbies and it was a normal thing to ask "What are your hobbies?", when you met someone rather than "What do you do?". Then it became a bit of a no-no as an expression, conjuring up visions of saddos with no mates bent over an Airfix kit and a stamp collection - or dashing off to Girl Guides to earn a badge in brass rubbing.

But why did we get so cynical about hobbies? Were they swept aside in Thatcher's Britain with the 80's emphasis on career and money? Indeed the received wisdom used to be not to put too much on the interest section of your CV in case a prospective employer might wonder whether you were reluctant to offer less than your whole soul to their company. On the other hand, going out and getting bladdered after a long day's cutting and thrusting on the corporate battlefield was seen as suitably macho, especially in the City.

At the other end of the economic scale, the growing underclass and disaffected leave school with nothing much more than an endless capacity for boredom and no means of sating it except through a bottle or even a needle.

The recent increase in the uptake of crafts such as knitting and the burgeoning passion for vegetable growing have been heralded as reactions to recession. That may be true but maybe they are also signs of a reawakening of interest in hobbies for their own sake and hopefully an erosion of the cynicism about them and about clubs and societies. The Scouts and Brownies are supposed to be on the up, as is the Women's Institute. I've never been one for joining things myself - but I certainly don't feel cynical and sneery about those who do - even though I'm ashamed to say I once used to be!

Maybe if more of us had hobbies we wouldn't all feel we had to drink so much? If our kids did too it might set them on a path to a more interesting and fulfilling life. What do you think?

Clare F

Make do and Mend

Well this week things have really taken off on the thrifty living front.

We had The Observer this weekend with an extract from the fabulously useful Mend It! 400 Easy Repairs by Sian Berry.

Then this morning, BBC Radio 4's Today programme featured the soon-to-be-published modern version of Make Do and Mend from John Lewis and asked listeners to share their own ideas for thrifty living. Here at Make it and Mend it Towers we've risen to the challenge and have been busy on Twitter, tweeting our own tips and suggestions in response. Here's one of our tweets:

r4today RT @makeitandmendit: clean dark wood floors with water that five tea bags have been soaked in. Polishes beautifully and darkens scuff marks

It seems every time we open a magazine, a newspaper or turn on the TV or the radio there's something about living more frugally and thriftily. It definitely seems we've reached a tipping point in the public consciousness.

All of this is great, but there's a much more positive side to making and mending. You may start off down this path because you're short of a bob or two but most people find they actually like it! It's not so much about sacrifice, compromise or "making do" but more about the sense of achievement and self-efficacy that comes from making your own stuff rather than flashing a credit card.

When the recession eventually ends, you may have more cash in your pocket and security in your job, but we're sure once you've tried your hand at making and mending you'll find it becomes pretty addictive!
Clare Flynn

"Some enchanting sandals!" - one for the Vintage fans

“These Enchanting Sandals are simply made from old stockings and scraps of silk”

Here at Make it and Mend it, there’s nothing we like better than a bit of creative upcycling and these slippers are absolute corkers! Just right for the vintage fashion fan.

I came across them whilst leafing through some old knitting books that belonged to my grandmother. This cutting from a newspaper was slipped inside the pages and has complete instructions for making a pair of sandals from old silk stockings. Admittedly getting silk stockings is a bit of an issue these days, but I am sure that with a little creativity you could find a reasonable substitute and you could make a great pair of sandals. In fact we will offer a prize for the first person to make a pair and send us the photos. Very much in the wartime "make do and mend" manner.

Instructions – as per 1940s
"These simply-made slippers are as pretty as any we’ve seen. The comfortable built up soles are made of plaited silk stockings and are wonderfully long wearing.

You will need a pair of cork or felt ‘socks’ for the soles [presumably in-soles would do?], some pretty scraps of silk or cotton for the tops – just under ¼ yard of 36 inch material [hope the metric police won't arrest us for using inches!] – and twelve old silk stockings for each slipper. If you have too few yourself perhaps you can beg some from friends!

Plait the stocking together in threes. Only plait the silk leg parts together and cut off the lisle welts and feet. You will need four of these plaits for each slipper. Stitch them together to make one long plait.

Lay the plait, narrow side down, on the sock sole, and secure the plait to outer edge of the sole all round with double oversewing, then coil the plait round and round inside this outer line, until the sole is covered, catching the coils together here and there with matching strong silk.

Cut the strip of fabric for the heel, 17 inches long and 3 inches wide. Make a small dart in the centre of one long edge, ¼ inch wide and 2½ inches long, when sew to shape it for heel. Roll all the edges of the strip and finish with double oversewing. Oversew central part of the long undarted edge round heel part of sole, leaving ends to tie.

For toe sections, cut two strips of material each 6 ½ inches by 3 inches, and roll over all edges and double oversew. Then oversew on 3 inch end of each strip to side of sole, to tie over toes.”

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.