Before the times when uniforms were issued the men made their own. When hands could be spared from work about the ship the pipe was make “hands to make and mend clothes”. Later it was the practice for two or three men, more expert tailors than their fellows to obtain permission to form in partnership what was called a jewing firm, in the figurative sense of un¬scrupulous dealers. The expression make and mend today bears little relation to its original use. Now it means a half-holiday granted in harbour.
