Welcome to the Makerie Online: Mend with Memoir, a unique three-day virtual creative retreat exploring the nourishing ways we mend our beloved belongings and pay homage to the garments and objects we already own. Join sensational artists and educators from different parts of the world ~ Erin Lewis-Fitzgerald, Heidi Parkes, and Hikaru Noguchi for this special creative gathering celebrating the art of mending. In its raw definition, a memoir is a narrative, written from the perspective of the author, about an important part of their life. We love thinking about the stories our clothes and textiles tell us, and how this narrative can span a lifetime and beyond. What we choose to repair and why; the reason we can’t part with something; or even a new story we want to weave from a particular season of our life. During this experience, we will be looking at and honoring these special stories that have already been told, are currently being created, or have yet to be born.

Each of our three days together will feature different aspects of mending, as we explore mending through lenses of time, technique, and color. Day One will explore mending with time; how we find the time to mend, time-saving technical skills, and opening our minds to when and where we can fit mending into our busy lives. Day Two will highlight the structure and texture of mends, filling holes using special techniques to weave decorative stories into our belongings. Day Three will be a deep dive into the worlds of color, revealing color-matching secrets for invisible mending and discovering palettes that make our hearts sing. In addition to mending, we will share an element of self-care by the way of neck & shoulders yoga, led by certified yoga instructor Heidi Parkes. For the last half hour on Day Three, we’ll be hosting a living conversation around the Stories of our Belongings, inviting participants to share the meaning behind the things they cherish and choose to mend or intend to mend. Both our teacher team and student community will share in a dialogue to deepen our exploration into the art of mending.

A Care Kit will be mailed to you with special materials for this workshop experience, and a comprehensive list of materials you’ll be asked to bring will be provided. This experience will be recorded and you will have unlimited access to the recordings for one month following the event. Five reduced-fee tickets will be offered, based on financial need using the honor system. These tickets, two for international and three for U.S. participants, are anonymous and first come first serve via our registration system. We can’t wait to gather together, from the comforts of our homes, to mend, tend, and honor the creativity found in each of us.

Dates & Times

September 28 : 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM MDT

September 29 : 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM MDT

September 30 : 4:00 PM to 7:30 PM MDT

*for other time zones, check your local time here