Visible Mending and the Scrap Man

As a child I learned much about life, academically and practically at school but mostly at home. The methods used to expound that knowledge was not always kind and or comfortable.  I could dwell on lasting effect of lack of kindness and the overuse of discipline, but today I will focus on the entrenched value of making do and mending. 

My mum had an old and reliable Singer Sewing machine. That had been acquired in the 1950s from a scrap yard in Southampton.

My father was a frequent ‘customer’ to the Scrap Yard which was a vestige of the old days before household waste was collected from our front gates by the Corporation Dustmen. Scrap men or Rag and bone men would trawl the streets with a horse and cart calling for villagers and townspeople to bring out rubbish and unwanted belongings. He would take the items back to his yard to be sorted and sold on to dealers. We lived by the river beyond the realms of rubbish collection, but my father would take his scrap in a bag on the bus to sell to the scrap man. My dad was a boat builder and also salvaged sunken vessels to rebuild or sell for scrap.  I also was able to help in the meagre money-making exercise while I was searching for driftwood for the fire and I learned about the different metals and their value, racking out the remains of the fire was a good way to find portable nuggets.

My mum was delighted with her sewing machine when my dad returned from one such visit, on another occasion, he came home with camera which my mum put to good use when she was able to develop and print her photographs that documented river life for many years to come.

However, I digress I was, beside gathering firewood, making do and mending. Undertaking such tasks as turning cuffs and collars, lengthening and shortening dresses and trousers,  turning bed sheets side to middle, sewing on buttons and there was much darning. While my mother’s workmanship was neat and tidy and often invisible mine was less so. However, I did improve and continued to ‘enjoy’ prolonging the life of clothes and household items overlooking the cruel methods and learning the necessity of making ends meet. Sometimes forgetting that mother also taught me fine needlework and embroidery so lately I am inclined to be grateful for that … especially as there seems to be a revival and a need for us to consider the way in which we fill our wardrobes and decorate our homes. The world’s natural resources are at risk and the production of non-natural fibre is becoming increasingly harmful to the world and its atmosphere.

I think my mum would approve of my first attempts at visible mending it gave me much pleasure after a recent infestation of moths! There is still remaining holes I see …