Just a note when I lived in London in the 70s, I worked at Readers Digest .. a group of women started what we called ‘SWAP’ parties .. we’d bring all the clothes, cosmetics, jewellery, shoes, handbags, etc. that we either didn’t wear anymore, or wished we hadn’t bought it and since we were mostly the same size, we’d exchange almost everything .. they were wonderful .. and we each had a new wardrobe .. and sometimes, we would end up with some of our old clothes back reappreciating them.
I love this memory!! I did this once with my friends back in Washington DC when I lived there. It was so much fun. Dolly Clothing in Lewes is doing this on a community scale and I’ve always wanted to go to one. Thank you for reading and for telling me about your swap!!
I’m so glad you brought this back into the light of day (good words need to be salvaged as much as cloth). I find myself wondering which plants might have yielded black (probably in an iron kettle) for Miss Austens mourning dress, as synthetic dyes only became available with William Henry Perkin’s accidental discovery of Mauveine in 1856 (he was apparently trying to synthesise quinine from coal tar). I encountered some splendid black dye samples in the vaults of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg in 1999 but nobody was able to put a name to the dyes. So much information has been lost.
As to Japanese thriftiness, I believe the practice was “never to discard a morsel of cloth that could be used to wrap three beans”. My mother and grandmother kept a veritable library of trimmings from making clothes…a joy to raid when dressing my teddies as a small child!
I love knowing about the three bean idea in Japan. It's funny to look at my work table and see how I've graded my scraps from larger to smaller scraps – back on the shelf, patchwork, doll, rag rug, teeny bunting, and filling for things. I have this idea that you and our fellow scrap lovers have similar categories and an array of boxes tins and bags which hold the gradients. As you say, so much information has been lost in so many areas. I was once given a beautiful vintage ring from the early 1900s and dumbly caught it on a metal fence while swinging my hands as I was walking. I took it to many jewelers for repair and each one said, "No one knows how to do this anymore." It wasn't even that long ago and already the knowledge had been lost. Thank you so much for reading and sharing my story, India.
Jeni! Sorry it took me a bit to give your story a gander. Away for a gig (unfortunately rained out) and just got back in town, catching up on emails etc.
Interesting topic, I for one, and I assume many others, put so little thought into that area of recycling or repurposing, etc. I am constantly trying to de-clutter and re-purpose and recycle everything. I do reach points where, i just can’t re-purpose or re-use the material. We donate what we can and ultimately some end up at the dump. 😩
We used to have a small “exchange” area at the dump, but folks would stay all day, fighting over the drop offs, which ultimately ended the swap area. What a shame.
On a side tangent, a lot of my music gear, bought over the past 40 or so years, ends up obsolete, with little to no value to the local music store, rendering it pretty much paper-weight worthy. I bought a digital 16 track recorder w/cd recorder on board, not 10-12 years ago, just about zero value already. Fear not, i recently fired it up and pulled some old recordings off of it. Eventually tho…well, you know.
Thanks for tying up your story with a great pic of you and mawmaw. Beautiful.
The fact that you care so much that you give thought to your old heavy audio equipment means so much. As you say, despite our best efforts, not everything can be recycled or reused. I find I now think more carefully on the front end of buying something and whether it will last or if it can eventually be recycled. But I know my computer, phone, microphones, etc, don’t have a great chance of becoming anything other than E-waste at some point. So, hopefully I make up for it in other areas of my own consumerism. You’re the best! High and paw fives from Stanley Bear and me!
Oh my, I just wrote an incredibly thoughtful, witty reply, followed by the “cancel” button. 🤣. Now i’m forced to do the condensed version. I agree with all of your points, especially thinking on the front end! That said, I do believe my Sure SM58 will last forever. High paws, fives, n hugs. 🫶🏻
Thank you Jeni, you wove the threads of the story so beautifully. It always puzzles me why few people make quilts from clothes and fabric scraps these days as to me a quilt made from loved and well worn clothes is much more precious than soulless new fabric. I am utterly unable to give up any pieces of fabric and use as many as I can in rag rugs as well as turning old clothes into new, appliqué, patchwork, collages etc. And I too have acquired discarded clothes, washed, mended and found new homes for them as I cannot bear them going to landfill and worse. I hope your skilful essay reaches people who need to learn about caring for the fabric of our lives. x
Nat! Thank you for your beautiful and thoughtful response to my essay. And I love hearing about your experience with materials. So good to have this in common with you! xo
What a fascinating letter. Thank you for taking the time to write it. You have a unique perspective and pull so many disparate parts into a whole. It gets my synapses firing! Thank you!
Just a note when I lived in London in the 70s, I worked at Readers Digest .. a group of women started what we called ‘SWAP’ parties .. we’d bring all the clothes, cosmetics, jewellery, shoes, handbags, etc. that we either didn’t wear anymore, or wished we hadn’t bought it and since we were mostly the same size, we’d exchange almost everything .. they were wonderful .. and we each had a new wardrobe .. and sometimes, we would end up with some of our old clothes back reappreciating them.
I love this memory!! I did this once with my friends back in Washington DC when I lived there. It was so much fun. Dolly Clothing in Lewes is doing this on a community scale and I’ve always wanted to go to one. Thank you for reading and for telling me about your swap!!
Fabulous read .. full of sparking memories from my childhood and the ingenuity of the women in the family repurposing fabrics of all kinds. 🙏
I’m so glad you brought this back into the light of day (good words need to be salvaged as much as cloth). I find myself wondering which plants might have yielded black (probably in an iron kettle) for Miss Austens mourning dress, as synthetic dyes only became available with William Henry Perkin’s accidental discovery of Mauveine in 1856 (he was apparently trying to synthesise quinine from coal tar). I encountered some splendid black dye samples in the vaults of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg in 1999 but nobody was able to put a name to the dyes. So much information has been lost.
As to Japanese thriftiness, I believe the practice was “never to discard a morsel of cloth that could be used to wrap three beans”. My mother and grandmother kept a veritable library of trimmings from making clothes…a joy to raid when dressing my teddies as a small child!
I love knowing about the three bean idea in Japan. It's funny to look at my work table and see how I've graded my scraps from larger to smaller scraps – back on the shelf, patchwork, doll, rag rug, teeny bunting, and filling for things. I have this idea that you and our fellow scrap lovers have similar categories and an array of boxes tins and bags which hold the gradients. As you say, so much information has been lost in so many areas. I was once given a beautiful vintage ring from the early 1900s and dumbly caught it on a metal fence while swinging my hands as I was walking. I took it to many jewelers for repair and each one said, "No one knows how to do this anymore." It wasn't even that long ago and already the knowledge had been lost. Thank you so much for reading and sharing my story, India.
Jeni! Sorry it took me a bit to give your story a gander. Away for a gig (unfortunately rained out) and just got back in town, catching up on emails etc.
Interesting topic, I for one, and I assume many others, put so little thought into that area of recycling or repurposing, etc. I am constantly trying to de-clutter and re-purpose and recycle everything. I do reach points where, i just can’t re-purpose or re-use the material. We donate what we can and ultimately some end up at the dump. 😩
We used to have a small “exchange” area at the dump, but folks would stay all day, fighting over the drop offs, which ultimately ended the swap area. What a shame.
On a side tangent, a lot of my music gear, bought over the past 40 or so years, ends up obsolete, with little to no value to the local music store, rendering it pretty much paper-weight worthy. I bought a digital 16 track recorder w/cd recorder on board, not 10-12 years ago, just about zero value already. Fear not, i recently fired it up and pulled some old recordings off of it. Eventually tho…well, you know.
Thanks for tying up your story with a great pic of you and mawmaw. Beautiful.
Pete
The fact that you care so much that you give thought to your old heavy audio equipment means so much. As you say, despite our best efforts, not everything can be recycled or reused. I find I now think more carefully on the front end of buying something and whether it will last or if it can eventually be recycled. But I know my computer, phone, microphones, etc, don’t have a great chance of becoming anything other than E-waste at some point. So, hopefully I make up for it in other areas of my own consumerism. You’re the best! High and paw fives from Stanley Bear and me!
Oh my, I just wrote an incredibly thoughtful, witty reply, followed by the “cancel” button. 🤣. Now i’m forced to do the condensed version. I agree with all of your points, especially thinking on the front end! That said, I do believe my Sure SM58 will last forever. High paws, fives, n hugs. 🫶🏻
Thank you Jeni, you wove the threads of the story so beautifully. It always puzzles me why few people make quilts from clothes and fabric scraps these days as to me a quilt made from loved and well worn clothes is much more precious than soulless new fabric. I am utterly unable to give up any pieces of fabric and use as many as I can in rag rugs as well as turning old clothes into new, appliqué, patchwork, collages etc. And I too have acquired discarded clothes, washed, mended and found new homes for them as I cannot bear them going to landfill and worse. I hope your skilful essay reaches people who need to learn about caring for the fabric of our lives. x
Nat! Thank you for your beautiful and thoughtful response to my essay. And I love hearing about your experience with materials. So good to have this in common with you! xo
Beautiful words as always, Jeni. I’ve so enjoyed reading this. Thank you.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, Sarah, especially with all of the travelling and shows! Love to you xo
Back atcha! Xxoo
I love this letter, Jeni, and I love the way you are, yes, saving the world one small stitch at a time.
Thank you, Gail, for your love and counsel which are in each of my stitches. xoxo
What a fascinating letter. Thank you for taking the time to write it. You have a unique perspective and pull so many disparate parts into a whole. It gets my synapses firing! Thank you!
Thank YOU for taking the time to read. And for your beautiful and encouraging comment! xo