Mending Bed Linen

Candide wrote:

"Kate Dicey" wrote in message
...

Sarah Dale wrote:


Olwyn Mary wrote:


Size 80 cotton thread is still made, I think the Heirloom Sewing
stores carry it. However, I question the utility of darning cotton

or

fine linen sheets. I have done it in the past, and found that,
invariably, more holes quickly appear. In my view, it is of more

use

to turn the good parts of the sheet into pillowcases and make or

buy

new sheets.


Of course, there is also the good old fashioned technique of 'sides

to

middle'. This assumes the wear spots are in the center of your

sheet.

Cut sheet in half, flat fell or other flat seam finish to join the

sides

together. Hem your new sides. Voila, new sheet with good material in

the

middle and worn out material at the sides. Very simple, but I have
always wondered whether it would leave an uncomfortable lump in the
middle....

Having had experience of sheets sewn this way during the war to make
them last (no, I'm not that old, but I slept at my grandmother's
neighbour's house a few times - she was still using up sheets treated
like this in the 1970's!), I have to say YES! OK in a double bed

shared

with Big Sis - if either of use strayed over the line, we knew we were
in enemy territory and liable for a sharp poke with a toe or elbow!


Hmm, this "sides to middle" mending of bend linens seems good for
martial birth control! *LOL*

I wouldn't know about that... We've only had the one.

Sides to middle mending seems to work best on vintage bed linens of
heavy linen or cotton, rather than today's thin "high thread count"
percales. Vintage Pequot muslin and Wamsutta percale sheets would take
mending easily and just keep going. IMHO, today's modern sheets are so
thin it is near impossible to mend without creating more holes or weak
spots.


Yes. These sheets were old pre-war linen sheets the dear old lady (in
her 80's when I knew her in the early 70's) had as wedding presents. I
don't bother mending sheets. New good quality fitted sheets last long
enough for boredom to set in (my Marks & Spencer percale poly-cotton
wedding present ones did almost 20 years), and new ones are now cheap
enough that I just replace the old when the underblanket starts poking
through!

Likewise patches and darns... Oddly, patches are better when hand

sewn,

as far as comfort goes: the softer finish of a hand sewn single

thread...

Agreed, but have so much in my mending box and so little time, so hand
mending is out of the question for now. Have also considered applying
strips of thin iron on patching material to the wrong side to close the
damaged areas, then machine mending on the right side. My logic being
that the thin patching material would provide a bit of reinforcement to
the percale without bulk. It would also mean no frayed edges.

Iron-on only works so far... It doesn't stay stuck, and darning over
it, by machine or hand, even with fine thread, creates uncomfortable
lumps. The only places to bother, I'd say, are holes close to edges,
caused by mangles and other accidents in the laundry.



--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

I can remember in the late 50's and early 60's my mother who was very
thrifty, making blouses for me and herself out of printed flour sacks.

Dixie Sugar

"CypSew" wrote in message
...
I don't remember sleeping on the feed sack sheets though my maternal DGM
had some. But Oh! do I ever remember the seams in the middle of sheets!
Luckily, I always shared double beds with one of my DSs, and both of us
were careful not to cross "the center line".
Emily

On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 23:43:21 GMT, Doreen
wrote:

Hmmmm...am I the only one present who has slept on sheets made of
_feedsacks_ seamed together? (at the home of first DH...his parents were
'poorer than dirt'). It was a long time ago, but I still remember the
seams as being very uncomfortable.

By the time I was old enough to remember, we were rich
enough to use the seed-corn sack sheets only as top sheets,
and then only when the laundry didn't get done. My older
sisters, born during the depression, remember those sheets
vividly.

Mom somehow accumulated a large collection of seed-corn
sacks, which my sister is still using as dish towels -- they
are thick and soft and just *don't* wear out.

All my play clothes were made of chicken-feed sacks -- Mom
would take me to the hatchery to pick them out. I wish we
could still buy that fabric. It was so soft and
comfortable! The more-efficient spinning machines now in
use make a harder thread, so such fabric can no longer be
woven, unless there are some obsolete spinning mills in
India or China.

It made good, if small, tablecloths. Would have made good
napkins, but we got rich enough to use paper napkins before
I was old enough to notice. I still have a sugar-sack
napkin in my cedar chest; Mom was entirely baffled that I
wanted something that reminded her of such hard times. She
had embroidered it even though she couldn't wash the word
"sugar" out!

Speaking of sugar sacks, my Grandmother never had a
comfortable bra after they stopped putting sugar in cloth
bags. When I made her some bras modeled on a worn-out
sugar-sack bra, I naively bought the most-expensive (i.e.
tight-woven and hard) unbleached muslin in the store!

Joy Beeson
--
http://home.earthlink.net/~joybeeson/ -- needlework
http://home.earthlink.net/~dbeeson59...HSEW/ROUGH.HTM
http://home.earthlink.net/~beeson_n3f/ -- Writers' Exchange
joy beeson at earthlink dot net