G类雅思阅读042套P3:A home-sewing revival: the return of Clothkits

Part 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

A home-sewing revival: the return of Clothkits

In the 1970s, Clothkits revolutionised home sewing. Later, a woman from Sussex, England, revived the nostalgic brand and brought it up to date

A

I can’t remember many of the clothes I wore before I was six, but I have a vivid memory of a certain skirt whose patterns I can still trace in my mind .It was wraparound, with a belt that threaded through itself, decorated with cats in two shades of green.

I wore it with a knitted red jersey my mum bought in a jumble sale, and brown sandals with flowers cut into the toes.

It was 1979, and I was not yet five.I forgot about that skirt for long time, but when a girlfriend mentioned the name Clothkits while we were chatting, it was as if a door suddenly opened on a moment in the past that resonated with vivid significance for me.’

The brand, founded in 1968, had by the late 1980s mostly vanished from people’s lives, but by a combination of determination and luck Kay Mawer brought it back.

B

Clothkits was created by the designer Anne Kennedy, who came up with the ingenious idea of printing a pattern straight on to coloured fabric so that a paper pattern was not needed. It was accompanied by instructions that almost anyone could follow on how to cut the pieces out and sew them together. ’I was rebelling against the formulaic lines of textile design at that time,’ Kennedy says. ’My interest was in folk art and clothes that were simple to make as I had lots of unfinished sewing disasters in my cupboard.’ Clothkits has always embodied the spirit of the late 1960s and 1970s. Its initial design was a dress in a geometric stripe in orange, pink, turquoise and purple. It cost 25 shillings (£1 .25), and after it was featured in the Observer newspaper, Kennedy received more than ￡2,000 worth of orders. She ran the company from Lewes in Sussex, where at its peak it employed more than 400 people, selling to 44 countries worldwide. Sew-your-own kits formed the core of the business, supplemented by knitwear. Kennedy’s children demonstrated the patterns by wearing them in photographs.

C

Kennedy sold the company in the late 1980s. There had been a few administrative problems with postal strikes and a new computer system, which back then took up an entire room,’but the times were changing as well,’ she says. ’More women were going out to work and sewing less for their children She sold the company to one of her suppliers, who then sold it on to Freeman’s, which ran Clothkits along side its own and for a while, using Kennedy’s impressive database, but its ethos as a big, corporate company did not sit well alongside the alternative and Clrtistic values of Clothkits. In 1991, Clothkits was made dormant, and there the story might have ended, were it not for Mawer fascination with discovering what happened to Clothkits.

D

Mawer’s mother bought her a sewing machine when she was ten and taught her basic pattern-cutting and garment construction, encouraging her experiment with colour and design by trial and error. The first garment Mawer made was a pair of trousers, which she made by tracing around an existing pair of trousers. In her late twenties, she spent five years working on digital and sculptural installations. ’It was an amazing, mind-expanding experience, but I knew it was unlikely I could make a living as a practising artist. I was definitely looking for a way that I could work in a creative industry with a commercial edge.’ The experience inspired Mawer to return to education, studying for a degree in fine art at the University of Chichester. Her passion for vintage fabric, which her mother had encouraged her to start collecting, led her back Clothkits, and from there to a journey into the heart of Freeman’s. Negotiations with the company took 18 months, but in October 2007 Clothkits was hers.

E

The ethos of Clothkits remains the same, and Mawer is proud that her fabric is printed either in London or the north of England, and that packaging is kept to an absolute minimum. ’ I wanted to feel that everyone involved in the brand, from design to production, was part of a process I could witness. I couldn’t see the point of manufacturing on the other side of the world, as that’s not what Clothkits has ever been about.’ The revival of Clothkits has also, of course, coincided with a growing sense of dissatisfaction at our disposable society, and the resulting resurgence of interest in skills such as sewing and knitting. ’Making your own clothes gives you a greater appreciation of the craftsmanship in the construction of a garment,’ Mawer says. ’When you know the process involved in making a skirt, treasure it in a way you wouldn’t if you’d bought it from a massproducing manufacturer.’

Questions 28 – 31

The text on passage 3 has five paragraphs, A-E.

Which paragraph mentions the following?

Write the correct letter，A-E, in boxes 28-31 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

Questions 32 – 35

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

32In Paragraph A, the writer says that Kay Mawer was reminded about Clothkits by

• a shop she visited.
• a purchase she made.
• an outfit someone was wearing.
• a conversation with someone she knew.

33What does the reader learn about Clothkits in the 1960s and 1970s?

• Its designs represented the attitudes of the time.
• Its products were only affordable for the wealthy.
• Its creator tried many times to launch her company.
• Its management was spread across numerous countries.

34Why did Clothkits close in 1991?

• There were unexpected staffing problems.
• The funding for sewing activities was inadequate.
• Freeman’s was an unsuitable partner.
• Records on Kennedy’s database were lost.

35What point does the writer make in Paragraph E?

• Clothkits will reach more markets than in the past.
• Clothkits will need bigger premises than in the past.
• People are more concerned about throwing away items than in the past.
• People do less sewing now than in the past.

Questions 36 – 40

Complete the summary below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.