Happy New Year! We have a new set of events lined up and a new opportunity to mend with friends. So share this with a friend or just come on out. No skills required. We even have a Visible Mending 101 program lined up – to help you learn about supplies and start your own mini mending kit.
Community Visible Mending Circles Every Monday
Come mend and connect in community with the following circles at Cherrydale Library each Monday 2-4 PM. Although we have a skill listed each time, feel free to bring any of your mending projects just to mend in community.
- January 12 – Sweater Repair with Needle Felting & Darning 🧣🧤🧦 Bring your favorite sweater or any other knitted yarn items such as gloves, socks, scarves, and blankets. We will review common wear patterns and damage and provide tips and tools for mending holes and thinned areas. We will learn to darn using a microweave and seed stitch.
- January 19 – Library is closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
- January 26 CANCELLED DUE TO SNOW ❄️ – Open Lab Bring any clothing or textile items and we’ll help you get started with supplies and simple advice for hands-on visible mending.
- February 2 NEW DATE – Visible Mending 101 – Making a Mending Kit & Sashiko Palm Thimble 🪡🧵 All of our circles are open to everyone, but this circle is great for people new to mending. Bring a tin or pouch and get started on assembling the basic supplies for your own mending kit. We will review which supplies you need to get started and provide you with a Sashiko needle & thread, a threader, and a grip, and we will make a Sashiko palm thimble.
- February 9 – Denim Repair 👖 – Bring your beloved jeans or other denim and we will review common wear patterns and tips and tools for mending them. We will use techniques such as Japanese Sashiko stitching, patching, and embroidery mending.
- February 16 – Library is closed for Presidents’ Day.
- February 23 – Spiral (aka Honeycomb) Mending 🧦 🌀 🧶 Bring socks or other knits with a thinned area or small hole. This is ideal for reinforcing thinned areas such as heels of your socks or elbows in sweaters before a hole appears. We will learn a blanket stitch and how to spiral it.
Art on the Mend + the GWU Textile Museum = Textile 101 Pop-Up: Clothing Repair Lab
Stop by the GWU Textile Museum on Saturday, February 7th, anytime between 12:30 and 4:30 p.m. to see examples of visibly mended clothing and watch live demonstrations of bold, beautiful repair techniques with me and a team of our expert Mend-tors. Try your hand at time-honored methods such as Sashiko stitching, patching, needle felting, and microweave darning using provided garments and textiles.
For more information, visit https://museum.gwu.edu/textiles-101-pop-clothing-repair-lab.
Our New Events Calendar
You can add our events to your Google Calendar here by clicking “+” at the bottom of the page linked below.
Bring a sweater or knit to mend tomorrow. Hope to see you soon!
Art on the Mend 