Make Do and Mend

[C-dot]

One more for the unemployment team Since March.

Not only that but I must wait until January to start school again.

I have the book Made Do and Mend. It taught me to save energy, mend and alter garments, clean effectively, and keep cash in my wallet!

I picked it up at a neighbourhood bookstore for $15.00. How serendipitous!

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Just yesterday I repaired a two-way hat jack that i recieved from someone special. It worked great for a while, until the aluminum on both the male & female portions of the threaded expansion screw galled & became one piece. I took it all apart, trying to figure out how to fix it. As much as i would like to get a heated doem stretcher, I just cannot afford one, new or used. So down to the hardware store i go. I picked up a turnbuckle & installed the male threads into both pieces using some two part putty to hold them in the wood. I firmly believe that i am going to get another thousand miles of use out of it.

 

[Ethan Bentley]

My old company (John Lewis Partnership) has published this recently:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8224494.stm

An revised edition of the classic pamphlet.

 

[Lady Day]

My 10 min fix on the table.

Got irritated that the top was wobbly, especially since I use it to sew. I dont think the previous owner screwed in the top tight enough, and rather than take the whole thing a part and give myself an even larger headache, I finally walked to Home Depot and got a pack of corner braces for $4, turned the table over and got out the ole dremmel tool. Wobble is gone

LD

 

[Vanessa]

Make Do & Mend, an original piece from the 1940s:

So I found this fur stole (and currently have it listed for sale in my etsy shop) and its shape absolutely boggled my mind. I have lots of furs and I'm always on the lookout for more - but I haven't really run across this cut before. I wasn't quite sure how it would be worn.

I believe it was remade from another stole, probably the type with legs, sometime in the 1940s. There are no tags and the lining is very unusual for fur stoles of the time - it's similar to a roughly woven cotton...when most furs were lined in satin, rayon or velvet. I think this was probably a found piece remade by some fashionable-but-on-a-budget gal handy with a sewing needle. Take a look at the pictures - the cut is interesting, but almost awkward.

 

[The Shirt]

Need some advice. I have a handmade dress. I think the fabric is reasonable old and it does currently have a vintage zipper. It's in a 50's style tight bodice and very very full skirt. Just one problem. At one point someone decided that it was too short waisted and did a dreadful job of adding a few inches to the waistline. It now sits all awkward and looks pretty ridiculous and bulky. As I don't think it is actual 50s vintage I am thinking of cutting off the terribly botched bodice and making it just a skirt. It is a tremendously fun print of rum bottles and the like and I currently won't wear it but know that I would if it were just a skirt.

I was thinking that if I cut above the gathers about 2", roll it down and stitch it closed and then replace the zipper with a shorter one to fit. Do you think this would work? And further suggestions? I'm not a great seamstress but I think I could handle this much. I hate to cut apart any vintage - but seriously this is an atrocity as it is.

 

[grundie]

I'm an obsessive mender. I mend not only to save cash, but because I also get pleasure from doing so.

I was fortunate to be the son of a seamstress who taught me how to sew and repair clothing. That is something that has saved me a small fortune in clothing alteration costs. My step-father was an engineer who taught me a lot of mechanical things as well as woodworking skills. All this has come in handy as a new father myself.

My belief is that nothing cannot be repaired. Even those cheap chip board drawers you get from the likes of IKEA can be repaired if you think about it. The same goes for cheap mass produced clothing. Being careful with how you wash them and knowing how to wield a needle and thread means you can get more life out of them than the manufacturer intended.

Myself and my wife are also avid freecyclers. We have got free furniture, baby equipment and even bicycles from this service. in return we have used it to pass on old computers, Hi-Fis and kitchen equipment.

To me the phrase "No User Serviceable Parts Inside" is not a warning, it's the issuing of a challenge!

 

[Firefyter-Emt]

Yep, being from New England my self, on top of not exactly being flush with money (4 kids can do that to you) I live by this motto my self.

Last Fall I bought my wife a 2000 Taurus wagon with about 180k. After a fix to the heater hose, and new struts up front, she drove it for about 10k before the motor gave out (yea.. not pleased with that) Well, $500 later and there is a 45k mile motor sitting under the hood and it's on the road again.
I had to learn how to fix everything and anything on an oil fired furnace...
I garden, can, and raise chickens. I also tend to be a big scrounge with it comes to tools and equipment. Last fall I picked up a heavy duty 1974 Massey Ferguson garden tractor (not a lawn tractor). I ended up doing some custom work to the ignition system and installed a late 1970's Chrysler electronic system into it and it runs great. I picked up a 48" plow blade (heavily beat) and over the next two weekends I re-built it, modified it to fit the tractor, and painted it. Tested in 18" of snow without even working (350lbs of weight in the rear helps)

So yea... I am a scrounge and skin-thrift and proud of it!

I paid just $100 for this thing which is about 25% larger than your standard lawn tractor. I also picked up the three blade mower deck for $40 afterward.

PS... I will spare the before photos, but the rebuild of this plow included re-welding every pivot point to replace missing material.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Lost a rubber heel tip at work today and spent the past six hours with a wad of gaffer tape covering the wooden part of the heel to keep it from getting mashed out of shape. Glue is useless for attaching heel tips, and good luck finding shoe nails at Home Depot. And our local shoe repair place shut down last summer.

However -- if you own a Victrola, you have exactly what you need to reattach a heel tip right there in the Used Needle holder. Pull the bent old nails out of the heel tip with a pair of needle nose pliers, and take three used steel phonograph needles, position in them in the old holes, and using the back of a wooden kitchen chair as an anvil, take a good heavy hammer and drive the needles thru the rubber heel and into the wooden part of the shoe. Hammer them completely flat, and your shoe should be good as new.

(Don't try this with Tungs-tone or fiber needles. Loud tone steel needles will work the best.)

 

[Dawna]

Now that's resourceful!

This is such a great thread and since there are so many clever re-users here I guess it's a good place to ask this question I've got (if it's not the right place, just let me know!)

Does anyone know if it's possible to revitalize a teflon (non-stick) frying pan? I don't normally cook with them, but they're what we've got in our apartment so I'd rather rescue what we have than buy new. However, one of the pans has sort of lost it's non-stickiness and become extra sticky, everything gets stuck and there's a sort of brown burned-on layer on the bottom now. Surprise surprise, but pans these days seem made to wear out with use rather than getting better with age, like cast iron. Any tips are much appreciated!

Myself I'm big on mending clothes. I learned from an old sewing book of my grandma's how to darn and mend things and I'm always looking for ways to use the knowledge. The book shows how to mend a torn sheet but I've yet to have one tear! I'm just waiting for the day when I can try it out!