The Repair Shop Tales from the Workshop of Dreams & The Repair Shop A Make Do and Mend Handbook

This two-book set brings together The Repair Shop Tales from the Workshop of Dreams and The Repair Shop A Make Do and Mend Handbook by Karen Farrington. Inspired by the BBC series, the collection centres on the objects people hold dear and the craft involved in looking after them, from restoration in the workshop to everyday care at home.

In Tales from the Workshop of Dreams, the reader is taken inside The Repair Shop’s Workshop of Dreams through family stories attached to items brought in for repair. Examples include a sequinned dress once owned by a travelling circus performer and a pump organ brought from Jamaica by a member of the Windrush generation. The book includes contributions from the Repair Shop experts and features a foreword by Jay Blades, presenting these accounts as a slice of social history and a reflection on the past.

Included titles

• The Repair Shop Tales from the Workshop of Dreams
• The Repair Shop A Make Do and Mend Handbook

Key details

• Two-book collection
• Written by Karen Farrington
• Inspired by the BBC series The Repair Shop
• Foreword by Jay Blades in Tales from the Workshop of Dreams

Synopses

The Repair Shop Tales from the Workshop of Dreams

Set inside The Repair Shop’s Workshop of Dreams, this book shares family stories connected to objects brought in for restoration. The accounts expand on the items and their histories, with contributions from the Repair Shop experts, and are framed as a look at shared social history.

The Repair Shop A Make Do and Mend Handbook

Based in the world of BBC’s The Repair Shop, this handbook focuses on practical ways to care for treasured belongings. It highlights small at-home tasks such as replenishing stuffing in a well-loved teddy bear, removing a water mark from a wooden table, and helping to prevent leather from cracking.