This workshop was designed to help you save your favorite old t-shirts from the scrap heap. We’ll introduce the craft of visible mending, rooting ourselves in key historical, cultural, and environmental considerations, and dive into techniques for mending jersey fabric—the lightweight machine-knit used for t-shirts. Students will practice darning small holes and patching larger ones, and learn how to choose the right tools, materials, and techniques for the job.

Date
Wednesday, November 13th, 2024

Time
12 – 2:30 pm ET

Location
Zoom, a link will be sent to participants the day before class

Cost
$65 for the individual class, $300 for the series

*All sessions will be recorded. A link to the recording will be emailed to all those who register following the live session. This link is live for one month after the end of the series for you to watch at your convenience.

Class Materials:

• T-shirt or other jersey garment with holes or damaged areas 
• Scrap fabric (jersey or other lightweight fabric)
• Cotton sewing thread
• Embroidery thread
• (2) thin, sharp needles
  • (1) Sewing needle 
  • (1) Embroidery, sashiko, or applique needle
• Pins 
• Scissors 
• Embroidery hoop (5-8 inches wide—should be slightly bigger than damaged area) 
• Gluestick (optional)

Our Teachers

Repair Shop, a partnership between Rachel Meade Smith and Sam Bennett, is a public education project intent on making repair skills accessible and commonplace. Our public programs and workshops have taught repair skills to hundreds of people from around the world.

Past projects have included programming a year’s worth of on-site repair workshops at Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center; partnering with NYC fashion industry experts and Garment District workers on a multi-generational after-school program focused on vanishing couture repair and alteration skills at the High School of Fashion Industries; and researching the history and future of repair-knowledge sharing for public presentation at the Estonia National Museum. Other partners have included New York Public Library, NYC Department of Education, Columbia Climate School, and donateNYC. Our visible mending work has been featured internationally, in publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, Monopol, i-D Magazine, Hyperallergic, and Obscura.