Wartime Make Do and Mend and Today's Savvy, Frugal Consumer

film: Ministry of Information, Great Britain, c.1943

If you just want to watch a kitchy World War 2 government film on make do and mend, scroll down to the near bottom of this post.

You may be familiar with the term "fast fashion." Fast fashion is cheaply-produced clothing that replicates the look of high-end fashion, bringing it to the masses before the trend has passed. It's often produced by under-paid employees overseas. Because fast fashion is intended to be inexpensive knock-offs of higher end clothing, it is made cheaply -- mass-produced with poorer quality workmanship and lesser quality textiles. My daughter has remarked that her fast fashion purchases typically begin to show significant wear just about the time the trend is passing. Think of cheap knits that pill terribly after a few wearings or seams that are not sewn and reinforced well that burst open far too soon. Fast fashion makes executives rich, but doesn't have the longevity that many of us hope to find in our clothing.

Enter "slow fashion." Slow fashion came about in response to fast fashion. Slow fashion garments and ones that are made well by seamstresses and tailors who are compensated well for their craft. It's typically high quality, most often using natural fibers, and sometimes locally made. Slow fashion pieces are relatively timeless in style and costs more than fast fashion pieces. 

So what does slow fashion have in common with apparel from Great Britain circa 1940?

Fast fashion is a relatively recent development in retail clothing. What most folks owned when the war broke out was comparable in quality to a lot of today's slow fashion. People owned fewer clothing items, but what they did have was made well to begin with. 

When you spend more to get better quality, there's built-in motivation to keep that item in good repair for as long as possible. This was true in the 1940s just as most of us find today. Patching, darning, stitching a small hole closed, restitching seams and hems, and replacing buttons are all easy fixes and can be done with a needle and thread. When fabric does begin to show more wear, slow fashion pieces often have enough good portions left to remake the item into something fresh. Think linen slacks become dressy shorts. Wool midi skirt becomes a just above the knee pencil skirt. Husband's oxford shirt becomes my sleeveless tunic. A favorite cotton summer dress becomes a new apron. We call this up cycling today. During WW2, this was called "make do and mend." 

Clothing was one of several categories of items on ration during the war as fabrics were prioritized for military use. Very little allowance was given for new clothing, often just enough for a new coat or one outfit. Imagine if you didn't have very many clothing items to begin with, and those items were beginning to show wear and tear. Pests like textile moths chewed tiny holes in wool clothing. Regular wear tore holes at pressure or friction points, such as elbows. Women were encouraged to mend holes and add patches to the family's clothing. When even these repairs were no longer enough to make garments look presentable, the government came to the rescue with suggestions on how to recycle clothing items into something new.

For your entertainment, here's a link to a cute film put out by the government of Great Britain in the 1940s on the topic of make do and mend. 

I not only enjoy these films for their place in history, but I also like to think about how they can help the frugal minded among  us today.

A lot of what's for sale at the mall and discount department stores would easily qualify as fast fashion -- trendy, inexpensive, and not exactly top-notch quality. Superior quality clothing is out there. It just has a price tag commensurate with the quality. However, I have found good quality clothing at prices that I'm comfortable with in thrift stores, at estate sales, in consignment shops, and in my own closet (remnants both from my own long-ago period and a  couple of pieces that were my mother's, also long ago). For the most part, these are vintage garments, with vintage or retro styling. Just as in the 1940s film, a little imaginative remake can breathe new life into the garments. 

We often think we're being so clever to up-cycle our old clothes. But the truth is, folks have been doing just this probably since people stepped out of animal skins and into clothing of woven textiles. Good clothing is costly both in time to make and money for materials. It makes very good frugal sense to get as much wear out of our clothes as we can.

I hope you enjoy the film!

Your Thoughts on Gift Cards

Are you like me and have a whole slew of gift cards that have not been used, or do you like to use them as they come in? How do you feel about receiving gift cards as a gift? Are there types of gift cards you prefer over others?

Gift cards are a double-edged sword to me. On the one hand, I appreciate having some spending money to use. On the other hand, I feel guilty when I don't use them.

I have a bunch of GC for a variety of merchants. I have restaurant cards, bookstore cards, multi-purpose online vendor cards, fabric/craft store cards, clothing store cards, thrift store cards, specialty store cards, everything I could imagine. I don't have personal spending money aside from the ad revenue on this site (which covers my cell phone service each month), so I do really appreciate when someone gives me a gift card. Gift cards give me the freedom to spend some money without actually spending money.

Do you keep all of your gift cards in one spot? How do you track digital gift cards?

I keep all of my plastic cards corralled together and I go through them periodically to see if I could pay for an experience or needed item without having to take money out of the family budget. Digital gift cards complicate my GC storage system. The best I've been able to do is keep a list in the notepad on my laptop. But I try to prioritize using the digital cards before the plastic ones, so I don't forget to use them.

Are you practical with gift card use or do you see them as an opportunity for a splurge?

I tend to be practical with my gift card use, but do splurge a little. For experiences or items that others might ordinarily pay out of pocket, I use one of my gift cards. An example, back in 2019, my husband and I took our grown kids out to lunch for a joint celebration of my husband's and my birthdays (1 week apart). We used a gift card to a restaurant given to me as a birthday gift by my stepmom a couple of years prior to cover the cost of all of our meals and the tip. This was a splurge in the sense that we ate in a restaurant when I could have cooked a meal for the family. But we were also very practical and chose to order from a special lunch menu that had lower-priced items, so the GC would cover the entire meal. Another example, we were needing kitchen dish cloths and individual-sized microwaveable dishes. I used a thrift store gift card from my husband Christmas 2019 to purchase those items. Sometimes my use of gift cards falls in between a splurge and practical, such as last week. One daughter had given me a gift card to Five Guys (burger joint) for Christmas 2021. I had asked for time with my daughters as my gift. So my daughter gave me this gift card and she and my other daughter came with me to Five Guys for a lunch out. It's sort of a splurge, as I wouldn't ordinarily buy a meal out. Yet, I'm still practical with the spending. I asked for a cup for water and skipped the fries, just bought the burger so there would be some $$ left on the card for another time.

What do you do when there are just pennies left on a card? Do you try to find something extremely inexpensive? Is using all of each gift card important to you?

I currently have a gift card to an ice cream place that has less than 50 cents on it. It's one of those pricey ice cream shops, so I'd need to spend several dollars just to use those cents. I'm not sure what I'll do with that small balance.

Have you ever sold or regifted a gift card you couldn't use? If you've resold one, what website did you use?

I've looked into selling gift cards, but haven't chosen that route, yet. You lose some of the value and, well, that just bothers me. I have regifted a gift card, though. I received one that I didn't think I would use, but knew my husband would. So I gave it to him as part of his birthday gift one year. I told him it was regifted, but he didn't mind. 

What's been your most appreciated gift card? What kind of gift card would you most want to receive in the future?

I've specifically asked for certain gift cards in the past, based on what I needed at the moment. I have 2 most appreciated gift cards from recent years, one to a thrift store and the other to a grocery store. And I asked for both of these. A thrift store because I like to get a new top or jacket from time to time, or add to kitchen items. And I like that whatever I buy at a thrift store, it won't cost very much. With the grocery store gift card, I wanted to be able to buy myself foods that I specifically wanted without feeling guilty about the added cost.

I think if I had to choose a specific gift card that I would really appreciate receiving in the future, it would be something that would help with vacation costs, like a hotel chain gift card. Our vacations are few and far between. A gift card to a hotel chain that was within our budget would push us to actually plan and take a vacation.

Do you have any other thoughts on gift cards, either receiving or giving?