Sunday, June 1, 2014

Make Do & Mend

I heard back last week from the organization I pitched the "make do and mend" class to – they're interested, so now I'm trying to put together a lesson plan and run some numbers. You know, the not-fun part.

I'm thinking that the class should be no more than 2 hours, and probably 90 minutes is safer. If there's enough interest, there can always be another class. They only have one sewing machine available, but that's okay – most of what I'll be demonstrating and working with them to learn is hand sewing anyway. Though having a machine would be nice as far as explaining how to repair jeans – since everyone will wear through their jeans eventually. And yes, it can be done by hand, but if they have a machine available at home – and it still surprises me how many people have machines but no clue how to use them – this would be something to start with.

Mending: the slippery slope to sewing. That’s how I'm thinking of it. And if this place can't come up with more sewing machines, well, I'm getting a new (old) dining room table this weekend, and I do have a few (ahem) extra machines hanging around the house. My dining room is one of the nicest rooms in my house that gets almost no use. It may turn into the craft den yet.

Edited to add this great article from the Guardian on the make and mend movement in Britain.

3 comments:

Linda T said...

Hope it all goes well!

Melissa said...

Honestly, I'd take a jeans hemming class before any other "mending" class. However, I'm happy to see you doing something new and different. Change and stretching limits are always good. :)

Anonymous said...

I'd add fixing zippers and elastic to the mending tasks.