Darning and Patching

 One of my library books that arrived last week  I saw mentioned on a blog and actually know who's blog it was, which makes a change.

Angela at Tracing Rainbows said it was interesting even if you weren't planning to do any darning.

The Art of Repair by Molly Martin was published in 2021 and is about the history of darning including in other countries like Japan which has many different names for different types of mending.

This is the description from online

'Part how-to guide, part manifesto - a gentle exhortation that encourages us to reconnect with our damaged belongings and ourselves.' TOAST magazine

For Molly Martin, it all started with a pair of socks. Her favourite pair. When the heels became threadbare, her mother got out her darning mushroom and showed her how to reinforce the thinning stitches and bring them back to life. She has been stitching and darning ever since.

In The Art of Repair, Molly explores the humble origins of repair and how the act of mending a cherished item carefully by hand offers not just a practical solution but nourishment for the soul. Using her own beautiful illustrations, she guides us through the basics of the craft - from piecing and patching to the ancient Japanese art of Sashiko.

This book will stay with you long after you put down your needle and thread. It offers an antidote to our increasingly disposable lifestyle, encouraging us to reconnect not just with the everyday objects in our environment but also with ourselves.

I used to do lots of  mending and darning - especially Col's  welly-boot socks, jeans and the cuffs of shirts. Now my darning mushrooms sit unused............not sure how I have two............. because very few things need repair  - I don't even remember the last time I sewed on a button.

Angela was right - it was an interesting little book.

It Was £24.99 ...............

At a recent Sunday car boot sale I picked up this book just to see what it was. Good Housekeeping was a magazine I sometimes bought back in the 1970s BC (Before Colin and Before Children)- in the days of newly-married and still earning. Looking inside I saw some lovely photos and several recipes.

 Turned it over to read the blurb on the back and saw it was £24.99 when bought new and when the guy selling said £1, I thought it was worth buying for a better look.

Not sure I agree with that final sentence "Because everything is housekeeping - and housekeeping is everything"! Really?

I'll let you know if there's anything useful inside and if it was ever worth £24.99, but somehow I doubt it because there are dozens of secondhand copies for sale on Abebooks and Amazon. So maybe everyone who was given a copy for Christmas soon gave them away! 

St Peter's Church, Baylham

 

Not many small village churches have a transept or cross aisle and the south side at Baylham is quite big.

The transepts were added when the church was completely restored in 1870 although the tower dates back to the C14 and the font from the C15.

The East window is also from 1870

It's always interesting to find paintings of the church in a church, I couldn't see if there was a date on this one although it doesn't look as old as some.

The memorial on the north side of the sanctuary is for the Actons. This is what Simon Knott says on the Suffolk Churches Index

On the north side of the sanctuary is the late 17th Century Acton memorial. John and Elizabeth Acton face each other across a prayer desk, while behind them a skeleton bursts in waving a dart of death. There's something similar at St Nicholas, Kings Lynn. Beneath them are their children kneeling to mourn, three boys and two girls. The inscriptions for the main figures are odd. Elizabeth's records that she died at the age of 36 on the 27th of March, but omits to tell us which year. John's inscription has been left completely blank, but we know he died in 1695. The monument must have been erected before his death. In the great storm of October 1987 the chancel wall was destabilised, and this memorial needed to be reset. The local builder who carried out the work found that it came apart like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle, and each piece had been pegged separately into the wall with wooden dowelling. It was put back in place using the same late 17th Century techniques.

The south transept has pews but the north has the organ and behind that a handy toilet has been added.

All the tiling dates from 1870 too. Once the church would have been heated by a boiler with water pipes providing a bit warmth coming up through the metal grill down the central aisle.

Just down the road from the church is the village school, it would have been part of the churches estate when built at much the same time as the church was restored but now long closed and turned into a house. 

I found this old photo of the school on line. It dates from 1910 and is taken just down the hill from my photo