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| Old Fashioned Darning Egg courtesy free clip art |
A recent post by Floyd “Tube Socks
and Superstition” caused me to remember how my mother made our socks
last.
“Use it up and make it do,” was what my mother always said, and we wore
many socks that had been darned.
A loose hem or a torn seam
was easily repaired with needle and thread or mother’s handy dandy treadle
sewing machine. Mom could take a remnant
of material and create a dress or skirt for us.
These days I think mending and
darning is a lost art.
For the socks, Mom had a
wooden thing like an egg she would put down the sock and then using soft cotton
thread, she would weave back and forth to cover the holes.
Although our socks lasted longer, those darned places were not the most comfortable in our shoes. Neither was the cardboard slipped inside to cover a hole in our shoes during the war years.
The darning helped our
stockings to last until a birthday or Christmas when we received a new coat,
new sweater and a few new clothes, including underwear and socks.
Mom and Dad taught us how to
stretch a penny and not to waste anything.
Waste not want not was
another saying of my mother.
Today we often joke about
left over food saved in the refrigerator – and then thrown out in a few days as
it begins to spoil.
It is evident that many toss
good items in the trash, just because they are tired of them or they have
purchased a new one.
Our thrift stores are full of
new and almost new clothing for a fraction of the original price.
One man’s trash is another
man’s treasure and that is evident as you shop the many antique stores.
Times change, and although I
am not wasteful and careless, - - I no longer darn my socks.
