Where have all the patched knees gone? Every kid I knew used to have the knees of their jeans patched, especially after a busy afternoon of outdoor adventures. Iron-on patches, and the more elaborate kind that featured embroidery, seem to have gone the way of Tang, dunagarees and Milo - no longer cool enough.
Or is it simply that most people can afford to buy new, cheap things - that they value their time to shop rather than to mend what they have? Or could it be that we like to feel affluent and like we've got it all together - patches remind us of financial uncertainty, they are an old overt sign of poverty, they speak of the veneer which they cover up?
These some of the speculations that ran through my head as I took ten minutes to make a quick felt, leaf-shaped patch for my daughter's jeans, using antique gold thread from my own mother's sewing box.
Patches still have some charm, but maybe I'm old fashioned. At least your daughter is still young enough to appreciate whatever you do.
ReplyDeleteIt gets hard when your little girls grow into girls who bow to peer pressure and get caught up in the labelling craze so characteristic of adolescence. Only then if patches are in fashion will they be acceptable, regardless of the pragmatics or the aesthetics.
I know what you mean, Elisabeth. I routinely cut the labels out of my op shop clothes, in part, because I fear that my 14 year old label-obsessed self will re-emerge! That said, I know others who never went through such a stage, so I hold out hope that it isn't an essential part of the teenage years.
ReplyDeleteWhen I wrote this post I was thinking more about all the younger kids - the ones who usually don't give a stuff about labels, patches, and fashions. What's going on that their parents don't bother to patch clothes any more? Why has the patch disappeared?
Also, I read about your painful injury. I do hope you start to feel better very soon. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.