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[Vienna]

My oldest son joined the Army as an apprentice straight from school and has now been a soldier for 27 years. When he first joined up his Army apprentice wages were very low and he was just 16 and like all young men he was looking forward to taking his driving test and owning his first car.
Whenever they needed badges or insignia sewn on, repairs or alterations done to their uniforms they had to pay for the Army tailor to do them and it could prove to be quite expensive for them especially on their low wage. Some of the lads would have a bash stitching them on by hand to save money but at inspection or on parades they would always get taken to task about the "shoddy" sewing.
Anyway my son decided to speculate to accumulate and bought the cheapest sewing machine he could find and taught himself how to use it. He practised on his own stuff until he felt he could do a half decent job and then sold his services to the other lads in barracks. He charged half the price they`d usually pay and when other young men were out on the town or enjoying their down time etc, he`d beaver away with his machine.
The week he turned 17 he passed his driving test and the week after he bought his first car, a secondhand Escort with the money he`d made from his sewing.
He certainly doesn`t get his sewing skills from me, I`m useless but he`s now 44, a Captain , a Dad to 2 daughters and over the years he`s mended their clothes, made their fancy dress outfits and altered curtains and soft furnishings, still on his old original sewing machine which he keeps in the loft.

 

[Loveinamist]

Lovely story Vienna.

 

[Silver Fox]

Obviously a Son to be proud of Vienna!

 

[boffy]

beautiful you must be sooooo proud x

 

[ERICS MUM]

Vienna, sounds like you raised a real man, you must be proud of him and of yourself.

 

[donna255]

My Dad joined the navy as a young man, he was taught how to cook and sew. He always did his own repairs to clothes. He also did most of the cooking when I was young as my Mum was not the best and burnt quite a lot.

 

[ohnonotshoppingagain]

My oldest son joined the Army as an apprentice straight from school and has now been a soldier for 27 years. When he first joined up his Army apprentice wages were very low and he was just 16 and like all young men he was looking forward to taking his driving test and owning his first car.
Whenever they needed badges or insignia sewn on, repairs or alterations done to their uniforms they had to pay for the Army tailor to do them and it could prove to be quite expensive for them especially on their low wage. Some of the lads would have a bash stitching them on by hand to save money but at inspection or on parades they would always get taken to task about the "shoddy" sewing.
Anyway my son decided to speculate to accumulate and bought the cheapest sewing machine he could find and taught himself how to use it. He practised on his own stuff until he felt he could do a half decent job and then sold his services to the other lads in barracks. He charged half the price they`d usually pay and when other young men were out on the town or enjoying their down time etc, he`d beaver away with his machine.
The week he turned 17 he passed his driving test and the week after he bought his first car, a secondhand Escort with the money he`d made from his sewing.
He certainly doesn`t get his sewing skills from me, I`m useless but he`s now 44, a Captain , a Dad to 2 daughters and over the years he`s mended their clothes, made their fancy dress outfits and altered curtains and soft furnishings, still on his old original sewing machine which he keeps in the loft.

This is good to read. My Dad was a Royal Navy Officer who joined the RN in the 30s well before WWII, he always wanted to be in the Navy, so he told me he lied about his age to be accepted. Well, I don’t know if that is true but knowing how determined he was, it would not surprise me.

The point I’m coming too is that my dad was the best Arran knitter I ever knew, the best Tailor I ever knew as he made my coats for me, from little up to when I was in my early teens. He made all the curtains for the family when we all moved into our own places, and me when I changed my decor all the time. He cooked and darned socks, did all the decorating so well that you would have thought he was a time served painter and decorator.

My dad and I were very close, and he was always very proud of me, and my achievements.

He died from a heart attack in September 1990. I miss my dad every day of my life, and can’t help having a lump in my throat whenever he comes into my mind. Nat his cremation, I was in such a state, I had to be supported to stay standing by my husband and brother on either side of me.

I have never forgotten that week. It is as if it was last week, yet it was 30 years ago. The crematorium was standing room right out to the main door

 

[Vienna]

Your Dad sounds lovely ONSA and my Dad was hands on too. He didn`t knit or sew but he had a cobblers last in his shed and repaired and soled shoes free of charge for anybody he knew, as well as for us. He was a great painter and decorator and a dab hand with repairing windows, doors , laying carpets and so on. He worked hard in his job but even in his little spare time he kept busy and helped a lot of people.
He was shipped off to Canada as a Barnados boy when he was just 12 in 1926 and it was a hard life living and working on the isolated farm he was sent to where he was treated cruelly until he was allowed to leave when he was 18. They had hard Winters with 30ft snow drifts, red hot Summers and were so isolated they only made twice yearly trips to the nearest town which was many many miles away and no proper roads in the 1920`s and they only had horse and carts, no motor vehicles on the farm. They had to be self sufficient in all ways and that`s where my dad picked up his many skills.
I remember he had a friend who kept chickens and the friend always gave my Dad eggs but when his chickens stopped laying he couldn`t bring himself to kill them. My Dad dealt with every chicken, plucked and dressed them and his friend sold them on as broilers. Not politically correct these days and no such thing as animal rescue places back then and lots of families living on the breadline in the working class mill town we lived in and they were very grateful to buy a cheap meal. As my Dad always said , when he lived in Canada if you din`t grow it, breed it, kill it, pickle it, salt it or preserve it, you starved over Winter.
He then worked at the Alaskan trawlers, then the Merchant Navy and arrived back in the UK in 1939, met my Mum and they married in 1941.
Your Dad and my Dad were typical of the breed of men back then. Hard workers, self sufficient, family orientated and always wanting their kids to have easier lives than they had.

 

[Dame Fondacox]

When I was in my early teens (must be a good 10-15 years ago now ) it was my grandfather who taught me a failsafe way to thread a needle. It still works first time and I remember him every time I have to mend a hem to this day.

 

[Brissles]

My Dad was rubbish at everything, apart from going to work and putting food on the table. But he had a Yorkshire sense of humour, and he was adored. And like other Daddy's girls I miss him, and it doesn't matter that Im 72, I'd give anything for an extra hour with my Mum and Dad.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

My father was useless at anything, and I mean anything , DIY but he could knit, sew and cook.

 

[donna255]

My dad was not allowed to paint or decorate as he was considered rubbish at it. My grandfather had a stroke in his 40s so my granny did it all she then taught my uncle and her daughters how to do it. So it was the women on my mum's side of the family up ladders papering and painting. I clearly at around 10 years being given a paintbrush and allowed to do undercoating. Thankfully my ceiling is actually not high as I am not good with heights and I can paint my ceiling.

The third run on the ladder is my limit height-wise I can remember up the ladder cd blasting and the cat following me up the ladder as I painted the ceiling.

 

[maymorganlondon]

Happy memories of dads, how appropriate ahead of fathers day.
I lost mine at 15. All these years later I still miss him.
He left school at 15, and joined the GPO by day, and studied by night. He rose to be the sales and exports director of an electronics company through hard work in spite of leaving school with virtually no qualifications.
He had beautiful handwriting, was creative and practical. He designed and built 2 kitchens for my mum, toys for me and my brother. He built, repaired and restored things. He had a hot but fast temper, whereas my mum could have turned sulking into an Olympic sport and got the gold medal.
He had all his tools and bits and bobs perfectly organised.
He also liked to find a bargain...which meant if somewhere was having a closing down sale he would drag us down there. I used to get stuff from men's outfitters as I was a lanky kid, too tall for kids clothes and too up and down for women's... That's no longer the case!
I used to get roped in a fair amount for decorating, brick work and electrics.

 

[Akimbo]

It'll be 30 years on Fathers' Day since my Dad died; not sure how that many years have passed so quickly.

Whether you had the world's best father or made do with the one you had, I hope you all find something positive to focus on come Fathers' Day.

 

[ohnonotshoppingagain]

I actually think it is quite common for men who served in the for es, particularly the navy, to be able to do these things, certainly between the wars, the older generation could. My dad was able to paint and decorate because my late 7ncle was a time served painter and decorator who showed my dad the tips and tricks of the trade.