As part of their Winterfest event for students
This week we got the chance to go back to Art School but this time we were teaching and not students. Although I was tempted to join the students for the rest of their Winterfest event. Norwich University of the Arts host a week long event to help students with their wellbeing and socialise with other courses that they might not otherwise meet.
We taught an hour long darning workshop, explaining how darning can be used to mend jumpers, T-shirts and woven fabrics. Some of the students were from illustration and graphic design courses so they don’t usually get the chance to sew at college. However, they all picked up the technique really quickly. Practicing on swatches of an old worn out jumper, they are now ready to transfer their skills onto their own clothes.
Patching next and we explained the overstitch, which helps edge the patch and prevent it from fraying. Onto the Japanese technique of Boro and Sashiko. Some of the students also experimented with the traditional blanket stitch.
Thanks to Norwich University of the Arts for inviting us to be part of their Winterfest. I wanted to join the students on their other sessions which included drawing live owls, pottery painting and bingo!
Please get in touch if you are interested in us hosting a clothes mending workshop at your college, work, event or a group of friends. We can visit in person (if not to far from London) or host the workshops online.
Visiting Norwich gave us chance to visit a couple of our favourite charity shops
