The Big Mend
Not long after commencing My Make Do and Mend Year, I found out about a project called The Big Mend, run by the extremely talented Eirlys Penn, aka Scrapiana in Bath.
It is a free monthly mending meet up, part skill share, part social, part mending/sewing project helper. And it’s fab!
I have been going for the last few months, and have met some lovely like-minded people, got some help with mending I am stuck with, and it has provided me with a bit of a kick up the backside to actually get on and attack the mending pile!
This month, the Big Mend was celebrating it’s first birthday, so there was an extra special cake, baked by Eirlys herself
Delicious!
There were some regulars and some new faces, and it was really lovely to get some help and advice from other people, and benefit from their mending experiences
Eirlys always comes prepared with a big stash of vintage mending goodies:
I so want one of these!
and some great old books detailing pretty much every kind of mend you could ever need:
Eirlys is a wealth of knowledge on all things textiles and mending, and is incredibly patient with mending simpletons like myself.
More often than not, I get very little mending done, but it is so lovely to get out and have a natter, and realise I am not the only one who is patching jeans, and who has a yearning to learn how to darn…
I would heartily recommend it. And if you aren’t lucky enough to live within striking distance of Bath, then why not set up your very own Big Mend? Eirlys has a vision (which I have to say I share) of a nationwide network of Big Mends, in towns, villages and cities up and down the country.
How cool would that be?
