Repair Your Clothes (3-week course)

with Penny Follows

3-week course running for three consecutive 1.5-hour sessions from the start time listed below.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

So you can’t sew a button on?  You are not alone! Join this short 3 week course and learn how to look after your clothes. 

There is a lot of cheap, fast fashion available nowadays.  However, there is a quiet revolution going onto teach people to sew and therefore to mend/repair their clothes. Simple repairs take little time or skill, it’s simply knowing where to begin and having the confidence to start. Recent publications such as ‘Mend it, Wear it, Love it’ by Zoe Edwards and ‘Loved Clothes last by Orsola de Castro encourage us to ‘stitch our way to a more sustainable wardrobe and to feel ‘the joy of re-wearing and repairing our clothes’. Not only is this seen as being more environmentally friendly, but it can also be seen as a revolutionary act allowing us to support those workers who made our clothes by looking after them. 

You will be taught how to make simple hand sewn repairs, replacing buttons, hooks and eyes and press studs. Various methods of hemming a garment will be taught alongside how to mend a split seam and so much more!  In the last session we will each bring an item of clothing to repair. 

ABOUT THE TUTOR

Penny Follows has been teaching textiles for more than 10 years in London and the Home Counties. She is a bespoke dressmaker with a studio in the Chilterns. Penny believes that sewing is a 'learned skill' and a great creative outlet. She enjoys passing that skill, and a passion for textiles on to both adults and children.

WHAT TO BRING

Please bring with you a basic sewing kit to include hand sewing needles, thread, a small pair of sharp scissors, pins, a tape measure and a thimble if you use one.