Mastering Mending - Fixing Rips, Tears, and Wear
Event description
Join us for this FREE mending class series, sponsored by the District Department of Energy and Environment.
Do you have a favorite pair of jeans that are just a *little* too worn out to wear anymore? How about holes in your socks? Stains on a favorite shirt? Or, maybe you just want to save money, reduce your environmental impact, and reject throw-away culture. Then this workshop series is for you!
This class will be taught by Ursula Sandstrom of Bowerbird Stitchery. Each week will cover a different type of mending, and include a free beginning mending kit for each participant. This ticket is for the second class in the series. To access the other classes, please click on their links below.
Week 1: Darning - reweaving socks and other holes
Week 2: Mending your rips and tears
Week 3: Visible Mending - covering your stains and making it beautiful
Participants from Kelly Miller public housing, other public housing residences, and who are low-income receive first priority for this class series.
Summary
Have a favorite shirt that just started fraying on the cuffs? Have a rip in your pants?
We will go over basic sewing machine and hand sewing techniques as they come up in problem solving at this open mending session.
Issues that can be fixed: Holes in waterproof or active gear (including jackets, rain pants), missing buttons or snaps, easy zipper issues, thinning or smaller holes in pants, broken seams.
Issues that cannot be fixed: Completely shattered material, anything that is dirty, most changes to clothing size, damage that requires darning (this has to be a separate workshop).
There is limited time – Ursula can advise on larger or more complicated projects, and has some resources for other options but we do not expect that 2 hours is enough time to learn and fix everything! We will have: one sewing machins, hand sewing supplies, lots of patch fabric of various colors, weights and properties, thread, scissors, extra buttons, sweater defuzzer, some resources for hand-sewing thick materials, nylon and waterproof patching.
Additional Details:
Know how to do some mending? Please come either to work on your projects, support others and/or learn something. If you have a sewing machine or supplies to share, we would appreciate you bringing them! Please keep in mind that what works for you may not work for everyone. Please come in the spirit of solidarity and communal problem solving.
Want to start before the workshop? Some basic mending techniques here and DC Public Library books on mending here (my favorite is Mend It Better).
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This event has priority registration for those who live in public housing or are low-income. IF there is space available in the workshop 48 before its scheduled time, we will release additional tickets for those who do not fall into a priority group.