Live Laugh Mend
A vintage inspo quote to jolly along your mending
I am feeling a bit grumpy at the moment and the have to do list is outweighing the want to do list. In the modern world this feeling is the perfect time to crack out an inspirational quote (or inspo quote if you like) so this Substack is all about my new but old little motto mending kit. Inspo quotes seem to split people’s taste, with some passionately against them and others embracing the chance to get a little bit of positivity in their lives. I am actually quite a fan, there is something modern kitsch about them, the V&A should really be collecting some of them, or at least the folk art collection at Compton Verney. I also like the slightly passive aggressive nature of them, I mean, how dare you get annoyed in a room where there’s a Good Vibes Only poster on the wall. I often regret not buying the gin-dependant woman water bottle in Home Bargains, would make me laugh every time I took a swig of water.
This does link with haberdashery as for quite a while I have wanted one of these little motto mending kits and last month I was lucky enough to be given this one. The friend, a talented textile artist, had bought a bundle of threads from eBay to use in their stitch work and knew I wanted one of these little kits and so passed it along. I love the quote on the front so much:
TROUBLES ARE ENDED WHEN THEY ARE MENDED
It is such a simple little quote and like all good ones you could probably do a Ted Talk on what it means and the nuances (I mean, can all troubles be ended by mending) but it is a positive little message. It led me to think of my mood when I mend things. I have a jarring history with mending. I like the idea of it and know that we have to stop buying clothes that are carted off to landfill as soon as there is the tiniest flaw. However, my approach is not in the best spirit, especially if a button integral to wearing something has come off and the bus leaves in five minutes and I cannot find my scissors - arghh, it is not a picture of blissful domesticity. I do recognise myself as lucky enough to have a choice about mending though, when looking at mending in the past I can imagine there was such bad grace about it at times. Imagine getting into work and noticing a ladder (which was socially unacceptable) then having to disappear to the toilets to repair it, all the while knowing you should be at your desk. Can’t have been fun. But then, in the loos at work I imagine you open this little kit and there’s a little quote to soothe you along and it is organised with thread and needles and so you start to feel you are winning at life again - maybe.
Onto the contents. This actual kit is such a gem to explore as you can see it was used. Give me a feeling of being in a room where someone has just left. It has a sense of being useful to someone, having a story, having lived. The press studs being located in the centre gives it a sort of weight nice when you open it. Each side has four compartments, and one end has a little space for a pack of needles. Nicely thought out. The brand on the needles (Arden Forest) match the the one on the case and I am almost certain they are the original which I found quite exciting. It is the most beautifully packaged little envelope, not just a folded piece of paper but with a separate section for the needles. I reckon they are likely to have been made for the company by a manufacturer in Redditch as so many needles were. On the back of the pack it says Specially Recommended for the Darning of Silk Hose, in lovely typography with the top two lines underlined then having Silk Hose written in bigger letters. Fabulous hierarchy of information there. Then moving onto the cards, three of them are branded as Arden Forest, one has been very well used. Again, rather nice that they are original to the case and belong with it. Then there are a couple of additions. There’s a Coat’s Filosheen card with the end cut off so it fits in the packet. Interestingly it looks like it has not been used, with the thread across at a diagonal. Maybe bought for an emergency repair on an outfit worn on a special occasion but it survived the outing unscathed, or the item of clothing was just not mended.
It then gets a bit random with a little bit of fur. No idea what this is about, maybe from a repair and the offcut made its way in here. Couldn’t resist holding it up at home to try out mustache, eyebrow - who knows. Lastly there are three little squashed spools of mending threads and these look very well used. Two of them are Peri-Lusta darning thread and I have been a big fan of these reels for a long time. Small card or paper reels are nowhere used enough these days. There’s a feeling of guilt when I finish sewing and put the plastic reels in the bin (although I try to do other things with them, it is a last resort if this happens). I wish more companies would use these little paper reels. There were originally 11 yards on each reel and you can see how as you use the thread you get to read the additional marketing inside the reel. I think this one here advertises an artificial silk product. The way they could be squashed flat is useful, makes them portable. The last little improvised bit of thread is over a piece or thick scrap paper. I have had a peek and it is from a needle packet, you can just see the trademark poking out, I think it is Milwards. What is the story to this? A mend needed to be made while at a friend's place before going out maybe. The friend had the right thread and so ripped off a bit of packaging from the sewing box and wound it around it? I love that this has stayed in there, like a little snippet in time.
The case is made from leather with gold embossed letters and the typeface is maybe a tiny bit comic sans for my taste but cute. I did a reverse font search and couldn’t find it so it was possibly developed in house. It took a bit of digging to find out about Arden Forest and compared to some other companies I feel what I found is still a bit sketchy. Bristol Museums gave me my best lead. They have two items in their collection, one is a pamphlet and the other a booklet, both are for Arden Forest Leathercrafts. I came across them when doing a Google search but the links do not always seem to work, says server issues. I had a look on the Bristol Archives webpage and Arden Forest and Leathercrafts didn’t show up. So a bit of a shame. Google does show a couple of pages from the catalogue with product images but you cannot see them or read them. What I could read that it described them as a motto collection (hence the use of that word above) so then did a newspaper search. These showed up that they were mainly marketed in the 1930s and described as the material as antique mottled leather. Adverts say The Motto Series… embodying everything that is best in British Craftsmanship and Gifts That Will Please (24/09/32, Horncastle News). Is Motto a better term than inspo quote? Are the the same or slightly different? I haven’t thought about this too much as there was habby to research. There were lots of mention of the ranges in the 1930s and this continues to the latest link I found in 1947. So this helps give a window for timeframe of manufacture.
I did discover that the company who made them is W.A. Winder and Co Ltd, based at Arden Works. Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham. I could not find out much about them but the parent company, Herbert O. Worrall & Co, was much easier to look up. The company was operating from the 1920s (could have been earlier but this is what I have found so far) to the 1950s (in 1954 they were advertising for staff for the fancy leather goods trade). When Herbert died in 1942 the newspapers described him as a prominent businessman who supported businesses in Birmingham, as well as a Rotary Club member. The search showed they made leather handbags among other things, so this motto range was just one part of their business.
Still ruminating that the few catalogue pages on the Bristol Museums website were impossible to read I started a spreadsheet of products that I had found on the internet. Liking logic, I had a bit of joy that the products all had their individual number on them. So, for example, this little kit is C455, and therefore likely a later product as presuming made in chronological order. The range had a really wide range of items, including needlecases, a little holder for your stamps and even a drink holder. There appears to be two different tooled designs, the acorn one I have and a daffodil, slightly art deco one, which I think from looking at the numbers was an earlier design. Then there is a range where the numbers have the prefix CM and these are different to my mending kit as the motto is accompanied by a little illustration in colour. In 1925 there was an advert in the Birmingham Mail (04/07/25) asking for: Young ladies with a knowledge of painting for decorating leather. Apply Herbert Worrall & Co, 113 Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham, so it is interesting to be reminded that these would have been hand painted.
They were marketed as inexpensive gifts, and I have come across one design online that has the name of a tourist resort embossed in gold on the bottom of it. There were quite a few sewing items in the range and the mending kits were redone in slightly different ways so think these must have been popular. The circular pin I came across wheel is interesting, one of those where the pins go around the edge. At the bottom of this email you can see a selection of the items I found and their mottos. I think the motto on cigarette case C293 is my favourite, representative of a very different time.
Why would this have survived any sewing box culls? I think it feels too nice to throw away. The motto on the front makes it a bit of a novelty item and the contents make it useful. Pretty and with a purpose. I have not drawn this yet but did get the quote printed onto some fabric. I got some of my drawings printed onto fabric and snuck this quote in where there were gaps (trying to get the most out of the fabric) so it will probably crop up again.
Other News
Still drawing
I have set up a Redbubble account and thinking about dipping my toes into that. I have also been working on a thread reel thank you card and that is nearly done, looking for somewhere to get them printed. They are more purse friendly if on normal card but I do like the feel of textured. I have drawn nine reels, here is a preview of a couple.
Cute Kits
Like the idea of a decent little mending kit with a vintage vibe? Especially if the tin has been given a new life. I have been following the Ministry of Mending and loving the way she has been reworking some old tins to make them into little kits for her shop. They are really lovely, you can find them here. https://www.instagram.com/p/C7Y5qghIJlE/
Music to make to
Loving the new album by David Boulter (Tindersticks) and I have come across an earlier track based on his mother working in a lace factory in Nottingham. Beautiful piece of music, nearly 20 minutes long and so soundtrack to a darn perhaps? You can read about it here, I have been streaming it on Apple Music. https://claypipemusic.bandcamp.com/album/factory
Bakewell House Museum
Last year I visited this lovely museum.. We had such a friendly welcome and it was an interesting place to look around, really nice vibe. If you like textiles (which if you got this far down my waffling I think you probably do) then they have a quilt exhibition this year. I am sad I will not likely be able to go but if you are near do pop by, it looks like it will be really good. If you go do pop over to All saints Church opposite as well as there are some fascinating relics to see there.
https://www.oldhousemuseum.org.uk/
A selection of the motto products I have found online:
