Instead of rejecting, recycling or even binning our neglected clothing, now is the season to mend and make new. Missing buttons, sagging elastic or a descending hem are no reason to give up on your old favourites… just fetch a needle and thread and embrace the spirit of Mend It May!

A quick look around my house soon uncovered some items in need of a little TLC…

A skirt I love has been developing a hole for some time. Ignored, it is steadily getting worse. The pattern disguises it a bit, so I keep forgetting the hole is there. I tried to take a photo demonstrating this cunning camouflage, but Jacques had other ideas. So, as soon as I get my skirt back, #1 on my Mend It list is a spot of darning.

Item #2 is a flappy-soled shoe. OK, I admit these may have seen better days- in fact, they were once smart school shoes- but they’re perfect for gardening. For those days when wellies are OTT, but it’s still too nippy to go bare foot al fresco, this is my go-to footwear. A spot of superglue and they’ll be right as rain.

My third item is one of those mending jobs that gets put to one side, hidden in a cupboard or drawer, until the necessary glue materialises. Well, it’s Mend It May and this poor chap has been out of action for long enough.

I’m sure I could easily find a heap more things to fix, but three’s enough to be getting on with. We’re only halfway through May… once I’m on a roll, there’ll be no stopping me. Meanwhile, one particular project is calling to me from behind a large family portrait on my sideboard…

This lovely pot was broken well over five years ago during a rather enthusiastic game of ping pong. My children “mended” it with sellotape, but this fix hasn’t proved terribly robust. I clearly need a class in kintsugi, the Japanese art of embracing imperfection by taking a broken object & transforming it into something new and beautiful…

It’s a good lesson. Even if life has left us a bit wonky and broken, we should be proud of every chip and crack. Instead of seeing our scars as ugly, let’s acknowledge them as proof of all we have been through to be transformed into who we are today.