Darning: Delightful, Durable Damage Control
When I was learning to read, my mom gave me a copy of Little House on the Prairie, which I credit as the beginning of my fascination with all things homesteading. The Ingalls family made their own soap, and stuffed their attic or cellar with produce, salt pork, and grain for winter. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s descriptions of the seasonal foods they enjoyed and the clever ways Ma stretched their money to clothe and feed everyone engrossed me. Even as a child, I was deeply fascinated by the handwork involved in making clothes; Farmer Boy, which is about Laura’s husband Almanzo Wilder’s childhood, specifically mentions his mother weaving cloth from handspun wool, inch by inch. With cloth made so painstakingly, darning also features often in the books, especially as a winter activity.
Darning is a particular type of cloth mending where you use a needle to weave a little patch of new fabric directly onto the torn garment. You can make a nearly invisible darn if you happen to have the same yarn or thread
