Cambridge 18 (General Training) | Test 2 | Section 3

A home-sewing revival: the return of Clothkits

“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 mom 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 a 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.

knitted (adjective)

/ˈnɪtɪd/

made using wool or thick cotton and two long needles

e.g., hand-knitted gloves

jumble sale (noun) [ C ] (British English)

(also rummage sale North American English, British English)

/ˈdʒʌmbl seɪl/

a sale of old or used clothes, etc. to make money for a church, school or other organization

e.g., I bought it at a church jumble sale.

resonate (verb) [intransitive]

/ˈrez.ən.eɪt/

if something such as an event or a message resonates, it seems important or good to people, or continues to do this