Creative Mending and Repairs Workshop

Come along to The Social Studio for a deep dive into circular fashion where you'll learn the basics to mend and revamp your garments through creative repairs. All experience levels in fashion repairs are welcome!

What kind of clothes you'll need to bring along:

• A variety of torn/ripped/stained clothes that you'd like to repair and practice on (we suggest bringing along a bag of them to work on throughout the day)

• Any other clothes (needing repairs or not) that you'd like to add creative designs and surface embellishments to via patching, shape-cutting, using beads/scraps etc.

• Any tricky to repair/alter garments you have at home that you'd like some advice on from the workshop leaders (please note that these will not be repaired on the day, but you can receive advice on how to fix them at home)

The workshop will be run via two interlinked classes for the day:

Repairs and Hand-Stitching Part 1: The Basics
Got garments hiding in the back of your wardrobe thanks to holes, stains, tears/rips or missing buttons? Bring them along and learn how to give them a new lease on life using simple, mending techniques. No sewing experience needed! In this part of the workshop, Seren Paing and Celina Samarakoon from The Social Studio will teach you the basics of hand stitching, visible mending and button repair—breathing fresh life into old favourites while keeping textiles out of landfill.

Repairs and Hand-Stitching Part 2: Creative Repairs

Want to revamp and reinspire your old garments with a new design? After having learnt the basics to hand-sewing repairs, in this part of the workshop, you'll get the chance to add custom surface embellishments to your clothes with guidance from our workshop leaders. You'll learn techniques such as cutting creative patches/shapes, using beads/scraps, knitwear darning and applying creative hand-stitching techniques to take your garments to a whole new level!

In between both workshops we will also break for lunch from Stefanino Panino nearby to the workshop for paninis and coffee! After you order your ticket, we will be in touch about what food/drink you would like to order on the day.

A couple of things to note too:

• All repairs/mending on the day will be done via hand-stitching techniques. We will NOT be using any sewing machines

• Your ticket price covers materials we need to run the workshop alongside the cost of lunch

• Under regular circumstances, a workshop such as this would cost around $200, but this has been funded by a City of Melbourne Grant to provide access at a heavily discounted price