THE Welcome to Langholm shop in the Market Place is currently the base for Lyn Maxwell, a self-employed darner who started her business four weeks ago.
Lyn trained at Reid & Taylor as a darner and worked at Neill’s Mill and with Robbie Trussler at Drove Weaving for more than 30 years.
For those not in the know, darning pieces was an important job in the tweed mills of Langholm.
It was done by women who sewed in any loose ends and breaks in threads which showed up in the tweed.
The tweed then went through the final finishing processes before being sent to the customer.
Lynn wears special goggles to help her see the small threads in the tweed.
She has been helped by her uncle Ian Maxwell to get a darning table and Margaret Pool has also helped her.
She is now looking for premises to work from. She hopes to take on another darner and a trainee in the future.
She is currently darning pieces for Lovat Mill of Hawick.
If anybody is interested in seeing Lyn at work, pop into the shop and she will explain what she’s doing.