Skills.

I was shortening some jeans for one of my children using a sewing machine. And I got to thinking about skills that have been or will be lost over time. Even though I have made clothes for my children when they were younger, none of them have shown any interest in doing the same.

I served an apprenticeship as a tailoress but have had different jobs over the years which involved different skills.

It seems such a waste that the skills of the past will be lost to the future.

Re: Skills.

I can relate to this. I spent many years becoming qualified as an electronics engineer in order to fix and design stuff. Nowadays, if anything gets busted, its simply thrown away and replaced. If you need to design something, you just draw it and program a chip. The art of working at component level is gone and all the years at college have been all but wasted.

Re: Skills.

Oh yes, I do agree.
I started off as a shorthand typist. Although the typing is still a skill, the shorthand is now outdated in offices, though I do believe Pitmans is used by some reporters.
My grandmother was a seamstress, doing hand finishing on suits etc., Her sewing was very good, neat and tiny, do they still do hand finished suits?
My daughter and dil both have sewing machines but they use them more for making kids costumes for parties. Ladies skills like knitting, crocheting, patchwork, darning etc., are all hobbies now..clothes and bedding are cheap to buy and making them is expensive.
Yes, we are a throw away society, it is often cheaper to buy new than to mend..shoes are a good example.

Re: Skills.

It is a shame Mall, so many skills have disappeared over the past 50 years it makes you wonder how many have disappeared since mankind first acquired skills, skills we wouldn't believe were possible then.

Re: Skills.

Skills were probably borne out on necessity and were rough and serviceable, such as the furs wore by cave men, then were refined over time. Clothing is one thing that has not changed, apart from fashion of course. If that skill were to be lost, we would all be walking around naked It doesn't bear thinking about

Re: Skills.

All true I made loads of clothes now they are so cheap it's not worth the effort. I get young nieghbours asking me to sew on buttons or pull a thread through some knitted garment. I wonder how the manage to put a meal together.

Re: Skills.

Sadly, a lot of young people don't know how to put a meal together. Haven't the first clue.

I remember talking to a young woman aged around 30 on another forum, and she thought it was fine to feed her 3-year old with kebab and chips!

She had absolutely no concept whatsoever of cooking a "proper" meal, so some of us ladies put recipes on for her to try and, fair play to her, she did have a go and photographed her results, and this was a woman of 30.

I've never been industrious as regards making things myself, and I wasn't bad at knitting years ago, but I usually got bored halfway through a project. I did finish some things though.

Re: Skills.

The incentive to learn new skills starts at home and school and seeing that a lot of parents have no time for their kids just their own social life they are given a computer, games consol and left to their own devices which leads them into vices.
The skills are lost.

Re: Skills.

I have learned many skills in my construction career, but have never lost my awe or admiration for the peoples in the past who had skills which have now been lost.

For example some of the greatest feats of engineering ever seen were carried out by peoples such as ancient Egyptians, Mayans, Incas etc. who had no access to what we would term as simple tools and equipment, yet built huge monuments to their gods and rulers such as the world has never seen bettered. Anglo Saxon goldsmiths were some of the finest the world has ever seen with the most basic of tools..

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, so perhaps mankind has reached a point these dayswhere there just doesn't seem any necessity..?

Re: Skills.

I think there has been a revival in some skills . Artisan bread and cheese making is springing up all over the place as well as communal vegetable gardens on spare ground .

I also read there has been an increase in the sales of wool as new people take up knitting.

Did anyone watch Countryfile last week ? It featured a little company making wooden garden rakes a craft passed down over three generations and young people in Blackdown hills laying hedges in the traditional manner.

It is thought by some that the recession will spark the growth of many small enterprises as people use various means to supplement income.

It's good to see some skills are being passed on. I already have my orders to teach my grandchildren to cook