Thanks to everyone who has joined us so far this Autumn. It is great to be back at the in person and online workshops, sharing ideas on how to mend our clothes after a summer break.
Our online sessions was particularly busy have been particularly busy and we have a few regulars joining our session from the other side of the Atlantic. We enjoyed fascinating discussions on clothes mending and we promised to share the links for all the recommendations.
It was Zero Waste Week at the beginning of September and we chatted about how to use up the small pieces of fabric left over from altering and upcycling clothes. Making twine or cord from scrap fabrics is time consuming but satisfying. Elizabeth is crocheting with hers. Wendy Ward creates new clothes from old clothes and fabric by patching it together. Such as the sweatshirt above worn by Barley from Fabrications. Listen to Barley and Wendy on the Check Your Thread podcast which shares ideas on sewing sustainably. Karen recommended following The Thrifty Stitcher who mostly teaches dressmaking but many are also relevant for clothes repair such as this video on how to hem stretch fabrics. Diane was mending a hole in her T-shirt during our online chat. We shared our video on how to darn as this technique is useful for mending any stretch fabrics as well as jumpers and socks.
Join us on the first Monday of the month via Zoom. 7:30 to 8:30pm. Next session is 7th November. We chat and share clothes mending ideas as we sew. It is an informal teaching workshop but feel free to ask us and any of the friendly group repair questions. Sign up to our newsletter to automatically receive joining details. Or book via Eventbrite.
The Create Place, Bethnal Green
At our first October session at The Create Place the sewing machines were redundant. Everyone opted for hand sewing to mend their clothes. It resulted in a calm relaxed workshop. Everyone chatted about the places they were from and how they ended up in East London. We are back on Monday for more clothes mending fun. We are at The Create Place at St. Margaret’s House on the 2nd and 4th Monday of the month. The next couple of sessions are full but we have space on the 28 November. Please send us an email if you would like us to book you in.
The second session of the month was super busy with lots of new attendees and regulars. The sewing machines were back with a hive of mending activity along with plenty of hand sewing and darning.
We were back at The Remakery in Brixton on Monday. Thanks to everyone who came along making it a busy and fun evening. We fixed our clothes with jeans patching, pocket fixing, replacing elastic in waistbands, altering the fit on a dress, turning up the cuffs on a jacket, patching pyjamas, darning mittens, repairing a hole in a T-shirt and fixing the straps on a bag. Phew, all of that in 90 minutes! We are back at The Remakery on the 21st November. Book via Eventbrite. The event says 14th November at the moment but it will be updated soon. We are at The Remakery every third Monday of the month.
BIG GREEN WEEK: Thanks to everyone who came along to our T-shirt upcycling workshop in September for Big Green Week – we had loads of fun chopping and changing T-shirts, adding stitching and embellishments. Or making them into something completely different! Thanks @st.margarets.house and @thecreateplace for inviting us to take part
Our community clothes mending workshops at The Create Place are free thanks to Tower Hamlets Small Grants Fund. The workshops get busy so please book your place in advance via Eventbrite or send us an email. Click on the workshop button above for more details.
Our online mend-a-long is free to join thanks to a grant from Localgiving and Postcode Society Trust, a grant-giving charity funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
