Making, mending and adjusting things is a revolutionary act.

Capitalism would like us to buy-buy-buy to our own and the earth’s detriment, feeding on an annual cycle of growth at any cost for shareholder value.

If the vision of the future is only ever 12 months ahead, we are fucked.

Therefore, going back in time to find beautiful, well-made vintage clothes and perking them up or making them work for us is one of the things we can do to reject the playbook written in boardrooms by people who hate us.

Makes and mends over the last few months

Cheer obsession

An aesthetic I can’t quit is cheer uniform. I’ve got quite a few vintage pieces but that’s not where my passion ends.

It’s hard to get hold of real cheer and varsity patches in this country, so I decided to make one. I drew it out on felt, then covered it in French knots to mimic the sort of chenille texture.

Not decided where it lives yet because I’m sooooooo allergic to permanence, so I might put fixtures on the back instead of sewing it to something.

I had a week off in October and obviously had to do a few bits of sewing. I hemmed a vintage pencil skirt into a mini and sewed on fringe trim to copy a pair of vintage majorette shorts I’d seen.

I also sewed gold fringe to the shorts of a vintage cheer uniform I bought last year. They were totally plain but I loved the shape so I wanted to make them a bit more special on their own.

Pretty special!

1930s circus costume

Talking of special: a 1930s costume made of this amazingly thick peach lurex. I’m calling it lurex (which wasn’t invented until the 40s – a cheaper way to achieve this effect) because I don’t know what else to call it: it’s like super thick glittery liquid satin.

It’s obviously a costume because of how many times it’s been adjusted, mended and customised. It had mystery elastic loops and hidden buttons for attachments I can only imagine, and the metallic thread has been degraded in interesting wear patterns.

Being very old, it was suitable for my height but needed a bit of tailoring and some reinforcing for longevity. I replaced the broken zip, which was sad because a 30s zip is a beautiful thing, put darts in the back of the blouse and took in the waistband.

I haven’t worn the whole suit together yet but I wore the trousers when I was feeling dreadful and they were very comfortable AND comforting.

Resist!