Make Do And Mend

From the collections of the Imperial War Museum "How to make-do-and-mend." An exhibition arranged by the Board of Trade in Harrods Store in London to show "substitution and conversion" economies includes a fashion display, with models wearing a patchwork dressing gown, a frock made from old plus-fours and an overcoat borrowed from a husband. Less elegant but no less practical is an improvised cot, a sack stretched between two chairs

[@jessicaprintke4973]

So wonderful. Patches shoes and jeans everything made to last. My mother made me dresses out of flour sacks when I was a girl. The most beautiful comfortable dressing 👗 I had. One day someone made her feel Ashamed and she stopped making them. I'm sure whoever that was was a devil of somekind.

[@suzannesadiiqa]

I the wartime baby of a widowed mum and making do and mending became second nature, it has been a blessing as we never had a lot of money but never felt poor. Stay out of debt, buy the best you can with cash and if you can't afford it then go without until you can. You will sleep a whole lot better at night than folk with massive credit card debts who have their houses repossessed.

[@paulbroderick8438]

You have the wisdom of King Solomon!! I am a Brit living in Arizona, however, the old common sense ways of 'getting by' have never left me.

[@davidboardman8590]

I was born just after the war and my parents thought HP was a dirty word. If you wanted something you saved up until you had the money and only then could you buy it.

[@ian_b]

@@davidboardman8590 I was born in 1966 and I can remember when getting things "on the HP" was considered disreputable. I also have to say I'm glad that we all gave up on darning socks, which were always lumpy and uncomfortable to wear.

[@geraldineekhator5428]

Sue Harvey I do this to the best of my ability. I do admit that I have taken out loans what I had too for school 🏫 and my family but they are getting paid off a little at a time. I still have no credit cards 💳. I have taught my kids to make do too.

[@wannaduckfin]

Amen!

[@lilgiggler35]

I saw a picture someone posted on Facebook that proves these techniques and habits stay with you. A girl came home to find that her Grandmother had "repaired" all her newly purchased distressed look jeans by sewing the distressed parts similar to how they were repairing that large hole.

[@iriscollins7583]

Laughed out loud at this one, Brilliant.

[@homesteadtotable2921]

I can imagine the reaction from both the kid, and the grandmother who saw the dreadful state of the jeans. The old instructions for mending clothing is to get it before the hole becomes visible. It's easier to darn before the fibers break.

[@2Sugarbears]

That;s funny.

[@Hope-un5wv]

I did that to a pair of my sons jeans not knowing they were meant to be there. Why anyone would buy ripped clothing though...

[@tilasole3252]

Sadly the girl liked her jeans looking distressed. That's the style these days.

[@electrogeek77]

My husband got me a reproduction copy of the "Make Do And Mend" booklet, and I adore it. I do much of my sewing with scraps of old clothes and such - right now I'm making a pillow with fabric scraps.

[@neverdielive]

electrogeek77 good good darling!

[@homesteadtotable2921]

I have both Make Do And Mend (it's a collection of those booklets), AND "Eating For Victory" by the same editor. :)

[@rosrychaplet]

@@homesteadtotable2921 how did you get your copies?

[@allisonmcdonough1]

Can we give a shout out to the mothers of wartime?!

[@Zedreaboudoir]

Definitely those women held it down

[@tilasole3252]

Woot! Woot!

[@HolyFreakinDragonSlayer]

Brilliant. I still can't understand some why people today can't sew.

[@rosrychaplet]

During the depression babies would sleep in drawers. But this was like a playpen. In another documentary I saw that while cloth was rationed tableclothes were not. Then they showed three girls in matching flower print dresses.

[@dawnelder9046]

In the 80s we had to move 2 weeks after our first was born. Space was tight in our van. So was money. B.C. to Ontario, so no second trip. We used a dresser drawer that first 2 weeks. We're given the top bed from an old carriage after arriving.

[@tilasole3252]

Cool stories

[@carolegill9316]

Sounding posh, Tracey--was the order of the day in such films, but for people learning how to be resourceful during these difficult times, this film was extremely informative and useful.

[@mazda1942]

Born in WWII my mother would extend the life of bedsheets that were worn in the middle by cutting in half down the center and sewing the outside edges together. She made raincoats for us from material "scavenged" from shot down barrage balloons.

[@hithere1728]

2020 anyone?

[@deborahflint9571]

2022

[@jlizamavera]

2022😁

[@yayasorensen4351]

2022

[@v-ster9029]

2022

[@Practicalinvestments]

2023

[@FurbyGender]

They were really pushing wartime rationing and making do. I imagine people were really struggling to figure out how to get through wartime.

[@freddypig]

Shame it takes a war to make people this resourceful.

[@cecilyerker]

And I'm sure YOU'D be the first one to go without your daily necessities, dear. (heavy sarcasm)

[@timeiswhat]

@@cecilyerker lol why so pissy tho

[@Mxyzptlksac]

Do you think people would do that now? Ha

[@mackenziedrake]

You forget that the roots of the War lay in the Depression of the 1930s. People had been doing this for years; the war just made it harder.

[@phillgreenland2390]

Aw. Bless ‘em. I did really like the patchwork dressing gown. “Mrs. Clark made her frock from a pair of her husband’s old trousers” … and unfortunately, that’s exactly what it looks like.

[@jessicaprintke4973]

Do you remember the sitcom of Carol Burnett She dawned a famous gown made of curtain Everybody enjoyed watching it and loved her so much more for it. Still loved today

[@janetmackinnon3411]

Who would have thbought this would be relevant in 2022!

[@jeffreywoods4040]

People forget how expensive textiles were back then even without the war causing scarcity. Everyone had to know how to fix things and alter garments to fit the wearer!

[@lindaloveallaround766]

LOVE THIS

[@Viveora]

Lol 'now baby, good behaviour PLEASE!'

[@wannaduckfin]

Viveora that made do crib looked none to safe

[@ifihadfriends437]

Who’s here in 2020 getting tips 😂

[@michellemartinez1994]

this just reminds me of my grandmother and her mending ways in Mexico

[@ahtaimo]

That’s Anna Russell talking about make do and mend isn’t it?! “ the story opens in the Rhine… IN it… and swimming around are three Rhine Maidens”

[@FunSizeSpamberguesa]

I think I'd find a way to shell out to make the baby a more secure crib. That looks like it would fall apart all too easily if the baby was at all active. Otherwise, these are genius.

[@phoebegraveyard7225]

SpamWarrior3000 My auntie used a deep dresser drawer placed on top of another narrow drawer flipped over. Once the baby was mobile, the lower drawer was put back in the dresser and the big drawer was placed on the floor. It was stable and relatively safe. I remember her telling me that she also made up a bed in the bathtub for a guests young child. Needs must.

[@glovefet]

also there's no back support.

[@timeiswhat]

@@glovefet Well, the chairs were probably solid, heavy wood (not like today), so the baby was probably alright in there

[@ringpop6177]

I luv how they gave all the women great ideas to do 😆

[@geraldineekhator5428]

Ringpop617 My family did this before the war. My Grandmas said they could give them ideas 💡 on making do.

[@leftyfourguns]

Honestly need this mentality back before our entire planet is taken over by cheap plastic garbage

[@francescakray233]

Thank you ... 🙂

[@ohmeowzer1]

Awesome

[@andrevasquez20]

GREAT

[@PA-ss5cq]

People have forgotten how to budget, and how to live within their means. They prefer to scrounge. No pride left.

[@jessicaprintke4973]

Good times

[@celiahaddon4087]

Love, love, love this short film! The announcer is so snooty and patronising. We've come a long way since those days.

[@iriscollins7583]

Unfortunately not always for the better.

[@heathstjohn6775]

The descent to the common, fat , scruffy tatooed and thick has certainly been a " long-way " . The women's corpses were probably better-presented than the inheritors of their generation's efforts are on the streets.

[@heathstjohn6775]

As I've written above under another Comment, it's interesting how you can receive notification that somebody has ' Liked ' a Comment , but that it doesn't appear , underneath , when you revisit the Video. Others may want to check their Accounts.

[@sisterelena]

The baby's cot looks decidedly precarious. A few movements and the baby will end up on the floor, perhaps landing on its head!

[@traceysmith9264]

is the lady speaker in this mrs bouquet from the tv series lol hyasinth lol

[@desireeretiree]

Pretty sure it is!

[@CandyHatsuneWolff]

Although Hyacinth would be mortified by having to "make do" - really, to be *seen* making do.

[@jessicaprintke4973]

A little bit more serious when our military was suffering because they did not have adequate clothing to keep them warm in the Winter Women from America They made clothes for the military and lined them with love And it kept them warm. Is beautiful example of how humanity can be better

[@Cook-hb2nf]

@Jessica Printke I wish we could get back to being better, without the war though.

[@tilasole3252]

That cot with a couple of chairs and a sack may of worked back then, but would be considered child endangerment now. Everything else is on point though. Make do and mend!

[@megangreene3955]

Oops, that poor guy lost his trousers to the war effort.

[@Languslangus]

Gota hand it to the brits they can turn anything into comedy.

[@weerobot]

Needs up-scaled and mended itself the film...

[@PS-hv7on]

If your parents were boomers, chances are this was your childhood.....

[@yippee8570]

And now we don't even teach sewing in school. These skills are being lost.

[@ArielCotton]

My mother and grandmother taught these things. When are we going to stop looking at the government and start looking at how we failed and got lazy as a society. You teach not the government

[@karolprzystupa5344]

You are so right .

[@HolyFreakinDragonSlayer]

My old primary school taught sewing as an afterschool club for anyone who was interested. I'm now 30, and make costumes for events and musical theatre

[@Dawnaat18]

@@ArielCotton I disagree. I don't think it's that we got lazier, but the schools are severely underfunded and classes like Shops and Home EC were the first ones to be axed. It doesn't help that the media has been bleating about always needing the newest thing for decades, so making your own clothes is seen as a sign of poverty.

[@maxwellfan55]

@@Dawnaat18 Rubbish, most have become infinitely lazier, fatter, and expect things to come to us rather than using our imagination, energy and ambition. Britain was always at its best when resourceful, it can happen if you want it enough. Stop blaming everyone else and instead roll your sleeves up like these women.

[@davidrodgersNJ]

What is "IWM?"

[@katyjudd1061]

It’s the Imperial War Museum, in London, England.

[@spmoran4703]

I make do and mend . Clothes are expensive. So , if it gets ragged I mend .

[@MonkeyHunch1]

i did laugh at the warning to men as a male myself , lock up your favourite old clothes :). These days women just want to send them to landfill very wasteful!

[@KirrosBlogg]

now baby, good behaviour pls

[@curlyyasmin181]

A cot out of a sack? How unsanitary and unbreathable

[@berylwrigglesworth1328]

We made do and mend boring