The Department of Culture, Communications and Media at the IOE have been organizing “Sustainability Skills Swapshops”. These are open sessions led by staff or students on a voluntary basis that involve a demonstration of and/or hands-on participation in a sustainability skill.

This session will be on visible mending and repair. It will be run by Evangelos Himonides, Mina Vasalou, and Andrea Gauthier.

In the session we can support you to learn how to repair:

Socks. Bring a sock that is thinning or has a manageable hole, and is thus worth saving. We will learn how to repair it together drawing from inspirational examples including our own!
Holes, e.g., elbow, jeans, children’s trainers. There are different patching techniques we can explore together.
Wool sweaters. Using Swiss darning we can bolster thinning material or repair a hole.

Explore our video collection to explore the techniques we know and can support you with.

If you don’t have something to mend you are still welcome to attend. There will be opportunities to practice different techniques.

What To Bring

We will supply darning needles and mending wool. At the end of the session, you will be welcome to buy these, if you wish, at their market price.
If you want to make a patch, we will supply some material, but you are welcome to bring your own.
For wool repairs, you are welcome to send us an email with a picture of your sweater so we can match the wool weight/colour. Alternatively, bring your own wool (ideally this should match the weight of the original material)

Watch this video if you want to explore why repair matters!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iKHr-JnWYA

Learn to mend and prolong your clothes' lifecycle!