Darn it...

So in recent weeks, ok it has been the last two months, I have been trying to track down the history of darning. Darning is the skill of repairing knitted and woven items to try to remake the damaged cloth. So far my search has been, well to put it kindly or maybe not so kindly a pin in my seat cushion. I have mentioned before but when it comes to women’s work and daily activities it is often difficult to track down not only the history but the proof of history of something. Darning is definitely no different.

Oh, we know they are doing it. Why? There are a few examples of what little clothing examples still exist. There is a shirt that has plenty of patches. Sure they don’t get mentioned in documents. I mean anyone who is wearing patched clothing can’t afford a painting, or is too poor in class to be of any interest to someone writing the history of civilization.  Yet with cloth is so expensive you will work hard to pay for cloth so if you can take old cloth and patch where you can it might go a bit further.

Cloth is extremely expensive up until the industrial revolution. In inventories of homes cloth can sometimes equal 1/10 the price of one home. Today we might spend $100 on a suit. Sometimes we might get something repaired if it rips or tears but more often than not we just toss it out. When cloth and clothing is expensive though we are more likely to do everything we can to repair and keep things looking either as good as we can or as useful as long as we can.

A woman darning a sock in the 1930s. from Hub images.

So what is darning? Well if you are luckily you catch the hole when it is small and if it is woven cloth you will just reweave thread or yarn over the thread worn cloth or knitted item. If you’re not as quick to find the wearing thread you might find your work a little more taxing, either patching the garment. If you have knitted piece the darn is basically a reknitted section that might take you a few moments or might take you what feels like forever.

Swiss Darning technique as seen in many magazines and book from the 1920-1960s, that helped women "keep a better house"

Though I am still looking at paintings and have emailed museums to see what they may have available the tools used are a little harder to track then darning themselves. Needles we know they had, double pointed knitting needles were widely in use at least starting in the 1300s. Sewing needles made of wood, bone and metal are available throughout the centuries. There is another tool I use as well when darning. It is called an egg. I use it to stretch the hole over. Some actually look like a leg while others look like a ball, and still others look like little wooden feet. Some do have handles while others don’t. So far I have only been able to date them to at least one painting done in Holland in 1817. As for the mention of it in the written word, I’ll let you know as soon as I find it.

Woman Darning Socks by Adrian de Lelie(Holland1755-1820)_1817 see the darning egg on her lap, scissors on the table and the sock on her hand.

However if you know anything about the history of darning or know of somewhere I might look, I would appreciate it. Meanwhile I am going to ignore the research headache brought on by the fact no one talks about everyday life.