We've had some friends to stay this weekend. Arrived late afternoon on Friday and left this afternoon and they've managed to really upset me.
On Saturday morning, DD was bunging her uniform in the washing machine when she asked if I could mend her blazer and PE skort. The pocket on her blazer had a hole in and a seam on her skort had come undone.
Friend said 'mend? Really? Why not just buy a new one?'
Because blazers are £35 and both jobs will take 10 minutes max
She said you could buy skorts in Matalan for a fiver, so I said yes, but it'll take 2 minutes to fix the seam and about 2p in cotton.
Her and her DH then fell about laughing, calling me Granny Blinky, saying 'make do and mend' in silly voices and just generally carrying on like they're the next big thing in stand up comedy.
Then she said - seriously though, aren't the kids embarrassed? I suppose you darn socks too (actually, yes, if it's just something simple like a hole in the toe, I do repair socks and tights).
DD asked what she should be embarrassed about 
and they went quiet.
I'm quite crafty and have made lots of stuff in our house - curtains, cushion covers, quilts for the kids, etc.
I'm knitting a big cuddly blanket at the moment. We were going out for breakfast this morning and while waiting for everyone to get ready, I knitted a couple of rows. Comments about granny Blinky again and how it's a 'real war effort round here' while standing there laughing at me.
When they left they said they were 'only joking' but I'm quite hurt by it. I don't mind a bit of banter, but this felt unpleasant - was all laugh/laugh/funny/funny at my expense.
I won't be inviting them back ever anytime soon
AIBU?
to 'make do and mend'
Blinkybell · 19/03/2017 18:39
Oh OP, poor you - you opened your home to these 'friends' and they turned out to be appalling people! They sound like the type of folk who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
I loathe people who talk about 'banter' as an excuse for bullying or unkindness - no, it's not banter, it's justification for you behaving like a knob and blaming the victim for not having a sense of humour when they don't find it funny and their feelings are hurt.
You sound lovely OP. I'm a crafter but not in your league by the sound of it. I'll always try to mend if possible because I become attached to things and don't want new things - I want my old things like new again. I could afford to replace things, but it galls me to be senselessly wasteful.
I have a friend who is very affluent - she lives in what I'd call a mansion. She could easily replace school uniform without a second thought, especially because she can't sew a button on - she tries, but it ends up with swearing and a bleeding finger. But she doesn't throw things out - she keeps it to one side and when I'm there for lunch I mend it ( which I'm happy to do because she makes me lovely meals
). Because she knows it's foolish to be wasteful.
Well, the Squanderbugs (like that name!) have blotted their copy book with you and won't be welcome back - if they try for another invitation you can take pleasure in telling them to stroll right on because of their breathtaking rudeness last time. Seriously, who angles for an invitation and then mocks their host? No class at all. Perhaps of they weren't so wasteful and were more careful with their resources they could afford to stay in a hotel instead of scrounging a free visit like a pair of brass-necked feckless piss-takers. Also, I don't know who the hell Granny Blinks is supposed to be but she sounds cool - I'd hang out with her 
Thanks all!
I don't think there will be a next time
With socks and tights, DD2 can be guaranteed to stick her big toe through them the first time of wearing and it's quick and easy just to sew the hole closed. I don't darn massive holes or anything
9 times out of 10 it's just easier to mend something. A new skort is a trip into town, I'd have to faff ordering a new blazer and wait for it to be sent out.
I have a sewing machine and an over locker which makes this stuff easy, but even sewing by hand would have been a quick job. I did look at the blazer and wonder if I could be arsed to go upstairs to use the machine, or just get a needle and thread out of the drawer
The skort and blazer were only bought in September. They're perfectly fine.
They just made me feel like a dick.
beadyboo our local college does evening classes in basic sewing skills, how to use a sewing machine, etc. Or, have a look on YouTube, loads of tutorials on there.
Do they know how much clothing ends up in landfills? That theyre helping the ecological crisis were facing??
Or is it just that she doesnt know how to sow? 
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