Reflections: where do we go from here?

Sewing Rebellion-NYC went through a lot of changes at the end of 2011. First there was the closing of our beloved Spacecraft (a closing that was bittersweet, however, as it came partly due to the lovely Cristina of Spacecraft having a second kid, whom I will sew with someday). The Textile Arts Center became so popular that they expanded their classes to meet demand, and Mending Circle became one of a number of groups sharing space on Thursday nights.

All this led to some reflection at the beginning of 2012. We’ve been going strong since June of 2009, two and a half years, and it might be time for a check in. What is our mission? Are we doing the right things to realize it? Should we keep meeting regularly or focus on bigger events to reach more people? Should we do more research and writing, or it it about building skills and spreading what we know? Do we want instructors? What sort of group do we want to be?

This Thursday, January 5th, will be the last time the Mending Circle meets on the traditional first Thursday of the month at TAC. When we meet this month, in the midst of sewing machines and sock darning, I’ll ask for your ideas, feedback, and thoughts on SR. A lot is changing, and we’ll change with it, so you tell me: where do we go from here?

Heads Up!!

Hi folks. This is what we get for not having MC on our regularly scheduled first Thursday. Sadly (well, sadly for us) Textile Arts Center is so popular that they have classes meeting downstairs and a new gallery show going up upstairs, so we have to cancel MC tonight for lack of space. So, let’s kick this instructables style. Anyone who is darning, felting, or dealing with winter holes in another way, I challenge you to help the stitching newbies by making either:

1. An instruction sheet, a la the project instructions we have online or

2. An actual instructable. Like this one.

I’ll happily post your instructions online to share with the (part of the) world (who reads this blog).

-Maya

December Mending Circle

Darn it, another hole in another sweater and don’t even get me started on the toes of my tights. We haven’t even begun heavy snowy NY winter and already wear and tear have begun to infiltrate my closet. Especially the tear part. So for December we’re going to mend the holes we can and use the ones we can’t. Holes, it turns out, are beautiful design elements.

December MC will take place on Thursday Dec. 8 (NOT Dec 1), at the Textile Arts Center.

Come mend with us before the new year hits. That way you won’t have to resolve to re-use more.

SR is in the news!

Check it out.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/lost-art-of-mending-gains-new-following-for-reasons-economic-environmental/2011/10/25/gIQAqieDGM_story.html

 

And view a whole bunch of sean’s great PHOTOS here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/odriscoll/6149209108/in/photostream/

Mending Circle: The Great Clothing Swap

Date: Thursday, November 3, 6-9pm

Location: Textile Arts Center. 505 Carroll St. in Park Slope. Two blocks from the R train stop at Union St., or a 15 minute walk from Atlantic station.

Instructions: Please bring clothing that you would be proud to pass on (aka, no old sweats, unless they are super comfy) and clothing that has a story. The story can be simple, eg. “I love this dress but am making peace with the fact that I really shouldn’t wear it anymore”, or complicated “This was the shirt I wore on my first outing with my ex, and I left it at their house ‘by accident’ and then…”.
Though you need not tell anyone which garments you brought, we will ask you to write out your story and attach it to the garments you bring so you can pass along the ‘life story’ with the physical object. In order to make sure we have enough to go around, please take no more clothes than you bring.

Extras: As with every Mending Circle, sewing machines, hand sewing needles, thread, scissors, etc. will be provided free for your use. So if what you find is almost perfect but needs to be taken in, or out, or up, or needs pockets, we can do that too.

Want to know more about Mending Circle?

http://www.textileartscenter.com/mending_circle

Changing Seasons

Dear SR NY folks,

With the changing seasons comes news of change. While the Mending Circle will continue to meet on the first Thursday of the month, Sewing Rebellion @ Spacecraft has to go on hiatus for a while unless someone (ideally someone who lives in North Brooklyn) can take up the mantle of host for a few months. Between the L train only running when it wants to and my growing need to spend my Sundays in the studio to meet deadlines, I’m not going to be able to make it north until the spring. That said, SR has always been an “us thing” rather than a “me thing”, and I would be happy to work with anyone interested to keep our third Sunday sessions open to those who want to meet. You can comment here or email at sewingrebellionnyc@gmail.com. Here’s hoping with fingers crossed.

-Maya

This Thursday’s Mending Circle

Hi All,

We were planning to host this awesome clothing swap tomorrow but, due to various distractions like a never ending decentralized protest I’m sort of entranced by, we neglected to promote it at the level we would need to to get the most out of a clothes swap (you know how those things work- the more people and the more clothing the better).

So we’re postponing the swap one month and tomorrow, in solidarity with the folks on wall street who don’t have sewing machines, we’ll be demoing quick fixes that you can do using hand sewing. There will be machines available for use as always, and Isa and I will be planning the rest of the year’s MCs, so swing by with ideas or post suggestions here. I’ll make a flier for the NOVEMBER MC/clothing swap soon, and will post it in south and north Brooklyn.

p.s. if anyone knows how to darn, please please come by tomorrow. We get constant requests for darning demos but I’m pretty bad at it, so if you are a master darner your services are much in demand.

Occupy Wall Street

I signed on to post a reminder about the clothing swap coming up, but what I’m actually going to do is post a question.

If I were to go sit and mend things for free at the Wall Street Protests on Monday, would anyone want to join me?

Trade You

I’ve been preparing to teach a class in interactive art in October, and so I’ve been thinking a lot about… well…interactions that involve art. And lo, just when my mind is heading down a specific road, in steps The Laundromat Project, one of my favorite NY public art organizations, to ask if SR would be able to help them find more volunteers for their ever growing projects. Now this is where the story gets super cool. Artist Heather Hart is participating in the DUMBO Arts Festival with a project called Barter Town, a follow up to her Trading Post piece from 2009. Barter Town is exactly what you would expect: a place constructed around bartering. That means no money. Participants and visitors can trade skills for skills, goods for skills, and so on. So SR will be combining our skills with the LP’s resources (we have sewing knowledge, they have LOTS of embroidery thread, some needles, and small bags). We will be offering these embroidery kits- or the service of someone decoratively embroidering the rip or tear in your clothing-  in exchange for volunteer hours at one of the LP’s sites. So this is both a call to stop by and visit us at Barter Town, and a call to help me put together some embroidery kits. We have one week people, the festival is on Sept. 24 & 25. So while I will do as promised and demo what those crazy symbols on the sewing pattern mean, I am also asking you to take 10 minutes out of our time on Sunday and help me make some kits. Or, even better, come join us at the festival and mend something for someone you’ve never met before. It will be fun. I promise I’ll teach you how.

Fall Updates

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had such a wonderful Mending Circle with Isa! It really made me reflect on the value of the partnership between SR and TAC that is Mending Circle. We could never have done something like that on our own.

It was so wonderful, in fact, that I flat forgot to take any pictures of the goings on, involved as I was with dying things in onion skins and rusty nails and old wine and watching people remake pants and re-drape neck lines and all that. So if anyone has any pics of last night’s MC would you please send them to sewingrebellionnyc@gmail.com? I’ll post them here as a follow up.

Isa and I also got to talking about what to do for the upcoming Mending Circles. For next time (October 6) we’re thinking of having a clothing swap, with needles, thread, sewing machines open to all to fix the “new” clothes they find in the mix. There is a trick to this particular swap though, and it has to do with swapping stories as much as swapping clothes. Will post more about it as the date creeps closer.

We’re also hoping to have a darning demo in November (as we pull those moth nibbled garments from storage and realize we have some work to do before the real winter cold hits). Here’s the issue: neither of us know how to darn super well. Anyone out there who would be open to sharing your awesome darning skills?

As far as SR meetings at Spacecraft, the next one is THIS SUNDAY the 18th, and we’ll be talking about how to “read” a sewing pattern, and why all those crazy symbols are written all over it. It really is like another language, but it’s a easy language. So if you have an easy pattern that you’re struggling with bring it along and we’ll decode it.

That’s all for now, see you Sunday.