in-person + darning + patchwork + story telling + connection
port townsend + beyond
patches for protection ~ with house of the faun
In collaboration with House of the Faun in downtown Port Townsend.
Together we will hand-sew a symbolic patch for the back of your coat using special textile scraps I’ve collected and dyed over the years. An image of your beloved dog, a particular medicinal plant that makes you feel powerful, “ice out”, or an abstraction that plays with shape and color- you choose your message. We’ll explore how garment patches have been used in subcultures, in protest, in artful play, and as talismans of our belonging or membership throughout history.
Bring a beloved coat, sweatshirt, sweater, or vest that you want to adorn. Please bring your own scissors, snips, and needles that you like working with. Bring any special textile scraps, ribbons, buttons, threads or other bits that you wish to incorporate- however there will be supplies available to use up.
This class is best suited for folks that already have some basic stitching experience.
Space is limited, pre-registration is required.
hand mending with heart
Through creative improvisation, we’ll utilize basic mending techniques to artfully return our once-broken garments to new life.
We’ll learn about mending tools, materials, and the value of keeping something alive and in use- but we’ll also explore the emotional connections we make with our garments and the stories they connect us to. We’ll delve into the meditative aspects of handwork, the metaphors for relational repair to self and others, and the opportunities for personal expression. Together, we’ll bring these many threads together into something imperfect, yet whole.
Please bring 2-4 beloved garments in need of repair. If you have them, please bring your own scissors, snips, and needles that you like working with, and any special textile scraps, buttons, or threads that you wish to incorporate- however there will be supplies available to use up.
Some ideas of mends that would be a good fit for this class: jeans with holes in the knees, a knit sweater with a moth hole, wool socks with holes in the heels, a tee shirt with a rip, or a jacket with a torn pocket.
This class is open for sewers of all experience and levels. Beginners welcome!
Space is limited, pre-registration is required.
Workshop will be held at 210 Taylor street, unit #2, Port Townsend, Washington on Sunday June 28, 11a - 2p.
hand mending for knits
Sunday l April 26 l 12:00- 3:00pm
In this mending workshop we learn to darn and patch our knitwear- sweaters, socks, and delicate wool base layers by hand. Through creative improvisation, we’ll utilize basic mending techniques to artfully return our once-broken garments to new life.
We’ll talk favorite tools, materials, and the value of keeping something alive and in use- but we’ll also explore the emotional connections we make with our garments and the stories they connect us to.
We all come to this work with our individual motivations: the meditative and somatic aspects of handwork, the metaphors for relational repair to self and others, and the reality that repair work in some communities and cultures is a result of socioeconomic status, remote living, or simply wanting to opt out of the consumerist cycle.
Students should bring current mending projects such as knit socks, sweaters, and wool base layers with runs or holes. Please bring any project-specific threads, needles, and scissors that you like to work with if you have them, however all levels are welcome and class fee includes some specialty materials and tools you will take home.
Alexa Anderson is a textile artist,natural dyer and teacher living on the Olympic Pennisula. She creates place-based art informed by craft tradition. Her work incorporates second-use textiles, found natural materials, and plant pigments in an effort to center her values of engaging with what already exists, working within the parameters of place and seasonality, and promoting a healthy relationship to production and personal lifestyle.
Join us at Slowdown Studio as we bring all of these threads together into something imperfect, yet whole.
