Mending is the new new.... again
Wow, I haven't been on here in a scarily long time, have I?
It was the blogging part that got squeezed out of my life though, not the sewing - thankfully. Sewing is a great hobby: a solitary one mostly, but sometimes gregarious, with friends and the amazing online sewing/making community. A nourishing mixture of thrift, expense, creativity and time-wasting.
And it's because of thrift and community that I'm writing this today. Last Autumn, I hosted a fabulous evening of mending with the help of the great folk at The Library of Things. I'd read about similar events in the UK and the US, often held in cafes or bars, where people brought things to mend or learned how to mend them. These events were hosted by local community groups and mostly fixed household goods and electronics, but sometimes clothing too. The events spoke to a need to relearn and share old skills, as well as a desire to connect with others and a reaction against rapid consumerism - and I wanted to be part of that.
I was so pleased when the LoT agreed to host my Mending Meet-up, and it turned out to be a wonderful evening. We squeezed into their cute shipping container HQ with wine and good company to keep us cosy. We all brought food and drink with our mending projects. We swapped tips and shared haberdashery and sewing kit. I'd collected a ridiculous amount of vintage sewing-alia (which is definitely a word) to decorate the table and to inspire us. We learned from each other about the best way to use a darning mushroom, how to apply grosgrain ribbon to cover frayed cuffs, how to machine-darn in a visible mending style, how to speedily and neatly replace buttons. Many beloved items of clothing were saved that night. We caught up with old friends and made new ones. It was lovely, look:
And, excitingly, we're having another one!
If you're in West Norwood on the afternoon of Saturday 8 April 2017, I'd be delighted if you could join us. You'll need to book on EventBrite (link here - free but do please make a donation to LoT if you can afford it; they are an amazing local resource and we need to keep them around). This time, we'll be in their warehouse which enables us to offer double the spaces. It filled up fast last time, so go and book now!
To tempt you: this time, my sewing-alia trawl of eBay has netted me this rare little treasure:
Lancashire's Smallest Loom - love it! We'll be having a play with it at the Mending Meet-up but in the meantime, have a look at this beautiful Speedweve tutorial by the talented Tom of Holland, who undertakes textile repair commissions and teaches and blogs about slow crafts, visible mending and other traditional techniques.
Hope to see you on the 8th: bring a bottle, some snacks, your sewing box and those garments you thought were out of circulation for good. Together, we'll make mending great again! That booking link again: https://mendingmeetup2.eventbrite.co.uk
If you've booked your place and would like us to include a particular type of mend in the event, pop a comment below or on my Facebook page. As well as the Speedweve, I'm thinking about teaching myself a bit of sashiko stitching - a lovely Japanese technique that combines repair with embellishment - which you may like to do too.
If you can't make this meet-up but would like to be kept informed about future events, then ask to be added to my mailing list. You might also be interested in my Mending Meet-ups Pinterest board.
If you want to host a meet-up in your local area, get in touch and I'll share the resources I found useful in putting together this one.
S x
It was the blogging part that got squeezed out of my life though, not the sewing - thankfully. Sewing is a great hobby: a solitary one mostly, but sometimes gregarious, with friends and the amazing online sewing/making community. A nourishing mixture of thrift, expense, creativity and time-wasting.
And it's because of thrift and community that I'm writing this today. Last Autumn, I hosted a fabulous evening of mending with the help of the great folk at The Library of Things. I'd read about similar events in the UK and the US, often held in cafes or bars, where people brought things to mend or learned how to mend them. These events were hosted by local community groups and mostly fixed household goods and electronics, but sometimes clothing too. The events spoke to a need to relearn and share old skills, as well as a desire to connect with others and a reaction against rapid consumerism - and I wanted to be part of that.
I was so pleased when the LoT agreed to host my Mending Meet-up, and it turned out to be a wonderful evening. We squeezed into their cute shipping container HQ with wine and good company to keep us cosy. We all brought food and drink with our mending projects. We swapped tips and shared haberdashery and sewing kit. I'd collected a ridiculous amount of vintage sewing-alia (which is definitely a word) to decorate the table and to inspire us. We learned from each other about the best way to use a darning mushroom, how to apply grosgrain ribbon to cover frayed cuffs, how to machine-darn in a visible mending style, how to speedily and neatly replace buttons. Many beloved items of clothing were saved that night. We caught up with old friends and made new ones. It was lovely, look:
And, excitingly, we're having another one!
If you're in West Norwood on the afternoon of Saturday 8 April 2017, I'd be delighted if you could join us. You'll need to book on EventBrite (link here - free but do please make a donation to LoT if you can afford it; they are an amazing local resource and we need to keep them around). This time, we'll be in their warehouse which enables us to offer double the spaces. It filled up fast last time, so go and book now!
To tempt you: this time, my sewing-alia trawl of eBay has netted me this rare little treasure:
Lancashire's Smallest Loom - love it! We'll be having a play with it at the Mending Meet-up but in the meantime, have a look at this beautiful Speedweve tutorial by the talented Tom of Holland, who undertakes textile repair commissions and teaches and blogs about slow crafts, visible mending and other traditional techniques.
Hope to see you on the 8th: bring a bottle, some snacks, your sewing box and those garments you thought were out of circulation for good. Together, we'll make mending great again! That booking link again: https://mendingmeetup2.eventbrite.co.uk
If you've booked your place and would like us to include a particular type of mend in the event, pop a comment below or on my Facebook page. As well as the Speedweve, I'm thinking about teaching myself a bit of sashiko stitching - a lovely Japanese technique that combines repair with embellishment - which you may like to do too.
If you can't make this meet-up but would like to be kept informed about future events, then ask to be added to my mailing list. You might also be interested in my Mending Meet-ups Pinterest board.
If you want to host a meet-up in your local area, get in touch and I'll share the resources I found useful in putting together this one.
S x
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