Mending: That Corduroy Skirt

Recently, Kate Davies reposted a chapter from her last book, Wheesht, entitled Mend.  I read the chapter about a year ago and found it quite resonant then.  I have been darning my tights for a number of years now, and mending my own clothing, but I had started to darn my kids' and husband's socks by then as well.  I've always repaired mine and my kids' clothing (holes in knees, or those irritating places in tshirts that get little pin holes over time and wearing, holes in sweaters), but I liked the intentionality of Kate's chapter.  

 

 

That said, last month, the kids all needed bigger socks, plus the darned socks were to the point of more darning than socks, so it was time to replace for all of them. 

 

 I confess I heaved a sigh of relief. 

It's one thing to romanticize mending as a slow fashion way to keep your footprint light on the earth, but it is quite another to keep up with the darning for six people and everything else that needs doing for four kids, special needs not withstanding.  It had got to the point where I had to spend about a day every week or so doing the darning or else it piled up beyond doing.  This on top of the increased load of cooking and baking, and everything else that became harder last year with the extended lock down.  It seemed like every laundry cycle added to the never ending pile of mending.

 

 

 (I still think it is worth it to mend most things if possible, buy used, and pass things down within the family, but the cost of this approach is labor- and time-intensive for me, a cost that I think is largely ignored in these sorts of conversations).

 

So with that in mind, remember the dark blue corduroy skirt I made in the series two years ago?  I wore it twice before realizing the fit was really off and the fabric and pattern were a poor match, so I dumped the whole thing in my fabric bin, hoping to salvage the fabric for something else.  Sometime last year, I thought to put ban-roll elastic into the waist band to see if that fixed the fit.  I unpicked all the darts (all six!) and threaded the elastic and whomp, whomp, whomp.  Still really poor fit.  Back into the bin it went.

 

 

Fast forward to January and I thought maybe tightening the elastic would help.  Lo and behold, that worked!  The slightly less structured body of the garment works better with the light weight cord.  I won't say it is the most flattering thing I own, and it isn't warm at all, but it is light and comfortable for these days of chilly mornings and pleasant afternoons.  I have some dark green baby cord that may become another skirt like this.  Just as soon as I can muster some sew-jo, which has been in serious short supply round these parts.

 

My thoughts are slowly turning to warm weather garments (even as I have three sweaters on needles.  Three!  I make no apologies...)  I have two dress lengths of rayon challis from past birthday presents that have been waiting for the right pattern.  I thrifted a maxi dress last fall (that you can just see the top of in the pic above) that I love the fit of, and can replicate by doing a bit of frankenpatterning, so I intend to get to that at some point in the next couple of months.