Shala and Susan, mending is absolutely a great frugal thing to do. I don't sew, but i have a nice lady in town who has a tiny seamstress shop. She does awesome hand sewn work, at a pittance of the price of a new consumer item.
I try to only buy things these days that are made with quality, so I can have them repaired/mended. I also like having a cobbler around to repair leather shoes, boots and purses. In my town, we have leatherwork repairs also done on horse tackle and saddles!
I love the idea of a mend-it society. Not the throw-away society we grew up with in the latter half of the last century.
BTW for everyone else: If you are a handy person, i know there are tons of you tube videos that show how to sew, repair, mend or duct tape together everything that can be fixed.
