SUSTAINABLE DRESS CODE FOR QUAKER MEETINGS

My father had a very simple dress code rule for our household when we went to Quaker meetings: our clothes had to be "clean and darned". We were never required to look smart, even for weddings or funerals, but mud and moth holes were unacceptable. In those days darning was a normal activity, and would be done in the company of friends if they dropped by for a cup of tea.

I'm delighted that the Northfield Ecocentre has an event next Friday, May 29th, called SEW, DARN & TEA. This is described as the "first FREE sewing workshop" and it may be booked up by now - contact georgia@northfieldecocentre for further information. Making draught excluders and darning clothes are effective and enjoyable ways of having "lighter footprints".

My mother had a household rule about darning, this was about things that you could darn in company, and things that you darned in private. Things that you could darn in company were called "drawing room darning". This phrase shows clearly that darning was an activity in homes that had a drawing room, and my family home certainly did not, we didn't even have a dining room. (Younger readers may not realise that a drawing room is a reception room, not a room where you draw.)

Darning requires great skill if it is to hide, as well as to mend, a hole. In spite of my early training in darning, I cannot produce an invisible darn. I recently started to use crocheted patches over moth holes, making a feature of the darn - I wear my darned clothes with pride as it shows that I have not joined the throwaway society.

I hope that next Friday's session will be the first of many.