DARNING AND MENDING
All Weaver Bird Woolly Shoes - both House Shoes and Blanket Shoes - come with a small care kit so you can keep your slippers in a good state of repair.
In the days before we threw everything out, when things were precious and looked after, a darning mushroom was an everyday thing. The expectation with woollen socks and clothing was that, after a while of being worn, they would start to wear through or even get holes in them. Items would be collected and quietly darned back to fitness.
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Weaver Bird Feetwarmers are made in the same way as traditional clothing and made from traditional materials. We can wish that these materials behaved in the same way as mand made fabrics, but they don't. In fact, the reason we started creating such an enormous range of pseudo-magical science-based materials was partly to overcome the need to darn and mend.
Man made materials can be made cheaply from a range of often toxic base materials using miraculous techniques. These materials are designed to be waterproof, to resist mould and decomposition and to be tough. Ironically it is these very qualities - the toughness, the cheapness, the base materials - that have led to many man made materials causing a variety of cancers and having the fabulous ability to never ever die. Plastic wrappers are found in the sea with a use by date that expired thirty years ago, still perfectly intact and legible.
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If we want slippers that will never ever die then Weaver Bird is not the right place to be shopping. Weaver Bird feetwarmers have a life span. They can't be worn forever, scuffed along the floor or worn in the garden (although every summer you will see Kathryn dancing about in her Weaver Bird Tuggies at outdoor events - so much better for the feet than boots on a hot day!)
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But this life span can be extended and extended and extended just like in the good old days and when the lifetime is finally up, just cut wool up and it will compost along with your peelings.
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By darning your slippers frequently as a maintenance job rather than an emergency fix your slippers can have a good life span. And when they finally, and inevitably, need to be replaced you can support makers and hand made by buying a new pair.
Hand made isn't meant to be the budget option, it's the heartwarming and lovely option.
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Click HERE to watch how to darn your slippers and to learn how to know when your slippers need a bit of love...
