Building on the success of our initial offering, mending at TATTER continues with a second series of workshops, delving deeper into more advanced mending techniques. This series encourages creative expression, environmental consciousness, cultural awareness, and gratitude for the cloth that holds meaning in our lives, all while imparting the necessary skills to further extend the lives of your garments.
Mending is a universal application, and repair is a thoughtful practice. Join us to bring renewed life to the well-loved garments in your closet. Students will be guided through technical approaches to mending cloth of all kinds, by practicing artists and teachers familiar with the tenderness of repair as an act of care. Stitchers of every level are welcome to participate in all, or part of this unique series, as we explore more complex and specialized mending practices.
The Series
Mending Socks and Tricky Spots
with Sam Bennett
Learn how to darn socks and mend those “tricky spots” that might feel intimidating to tackle on your own. In this class, Sam Bennett will cover an overview of common mending challenges and successful fixes, followed by step-by-step darning demonstrations focusing on repairing holes in sock heels and toes, reinforcing worn areas on socks, and mending sleeve cuffs, collars, and gloves.
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2025
Hand Sewing Foundations for Repair
with Joy Mao
Every sewer seems to have their own arsenal of stitches and tricks—collected over a lifetime of both practice and study. Over the course of her career in fashion and textile art (as well as her own personal mending projects), Joy Mao has identified a selection of hand-sewing stitches that have proved most useful for common cases of mending: patching up holes, taking up hems, replacing or reinforcing threadbare areas. This class aims to provide a foundational overview of hand-sewing techniques that will inspire and empower students to tackle all their mending projects to come.
Friday, September 5th, 2025
Mending as Surface Design
with Jody Alexander
Mending techniques are used to repair and strengthen garments and other textile items. But, when left visible the repairs are also decorative, and add texture, line, shape, and color. In this workshop students will look at Japanese and French mended textiles from Jody’s collection as well as how she has worked these techniques into her artwork as surface design. Jody will demonstrate her favorite mending techniques that will include: the back patch, the joining stitch, and a French mend that Jody has named “the French squiggle”! Students will practice these mending techniques on a small sampler.
Friday, September 12th, 2025
Mending with Weaving Patterns
with Dante Gonzalez
Join Dante Gonzalez for a unique mending class where you’ll learn to transform worn-out clothing into bespoke works of art. Dante will guide students through the process of using various weaving patterns to mend fabrics, adding decorative and durable repairs. Discover how to create beautiful, intricate designs while extending the lives of your favorite garments.
Sunday, September 21st, 2025
Highlighting the Hole
with Martina Cox
The detailed hand stitching of mending scars naturally reflects the intimate relationship and innate sustainability humans once had with their clothes. In this class, we’ll celebrate that relationship and highlight everything that is fun, wonky, and beautiful about the act of mending. You’ll learn how to create colorful, contrasting frames around holes in knit garments and incorporate embroidery techniques into patching. In the final portion of the class, we’ll combine these skills into a colorful composition unique to your own style- bridging the worlds of mending and art.
Friday, September 26th, 2025
Mending on Denim
with Katrina Rodabaugh
The class will consider the creative opportunity in mending denim through careful consideration of materials, design, and stitching techniques. We will focus on high-contrast visible mending in visible areas like pockets or knees and, alternately, on low-contrast more invisible mending on less visible areas like the upper thighs of jeans. All mending will focus on hand-sewing on various weight denim. This workshop will lead participants through an overview of basic stitches and patching before turning to a garment that needs mending. Katrina will discuss how best to repair garments considering fabric, thread, utility, beauty, and more.
Friday, October 3rd, 2025
Dates
Mending Socks and Tricky Spots – Wednesday, September 3rd, 2025
Hand Sewing Foundations for Repair – Friday, September 5th, 2025
Mending as Surface Design – Friday, September 12th, 2025
Mending with Weaving Patterns – Sunday, September 21st, 2025
Highlighting the Hole – Friday, September 26th, 2025
Mending Denim – Friday, October 3rd, 2025
Time
All classes are from 12pm-2:30pm Eastern Time*
*These sessions will be recorded. A link to the recording will be emailed to all those who register following each live session. The links are live for one month after the series for you to watch at your convenience.
Tuition
$75 for one class. $400 for the whole series.
We have two scholarships available for this experience. To be considered for a scholarship please fill out the scholarship application form.
Our Teachers
