Creative Mending: Repair, Restore, Reimagine

Creative Mending: Repair, Restore, Reimagine

Date/Time: 

THIS IS AN ALL-DAY CLASS

Saturday, September 12, 9AM-12pm - break for lunch, then 1:30-4:40

Instructor:

April Sproule

Description: 

Discover the art of creative mending as a meaningful, eco-conscious way to repair, repurpose, and reimagine well-loved garments and textiles. In this workshop, you’ll explore the beauty and functionality of Japanese Boro-style stitching, learning how to extend the life of your favorite pieces while adding character and visual interest.

Through hands-on practice, you’ll learn foundational hand embroidery techniques, a variety of mending stitches, and multiple approaches to patching and repair. Whether you choose to work on fabric samples or bring an item in need of mending, you’ll gain practical skills you can immediately apply. 

As your confidence grows, you’ll move from uncertainty to clarity—developing an intuitive understanding of how to approach each project. Along the way, you’ll discover the deep satisfaction that comes from restoring what you already own and transforming it into something both functional and uniquely expressive. In class you will create samples of mending and darning techniques and apply them to an actual garment if desired.

Info covered: - Hand embroidery without a hoop - Ways to combine basic stitches for outstanding results - Construction methods for applying different types of patches for utilitarian and decorative purposes

Student Experience: 

Beginner

What materials and/or advanced preparation will students need for your class?

Bring:

Basic Sewing Kit: including regular scissors, straight pins, regular hand sewing needles, thread for basting, and a small piece of beeswax for your thread.
Hand Embroidery Needles, Pack of Assorted sizes 5-10 (DMC or Bohin are fine)

Fabric Marking Tools: Frixion Pens # 31557 (at Staples or Amazon)
- Ultra Fine Point Sharpie, black
- Ruler: clear plastic with 1/8” grid, overall size 1” x 12” or 2” x 12”
Sheet of fine grit sandpaper, or whatever you have on hand

Fabrics: Scraps of different fabrics for your patches in cotton, denim, silk, linen, or wool (if not washing your piece). Prewash your fabric. 
- Keep in mind, the heavier the fabric, the harder it will be to stitch through

Assorted Threads: bring 3 of 4 skeins of DMC cotton embroidery floss in your favorite colors. We will probably be working on neutral backgrounds. You also might want to try other threads like silk, linen, perle cotton, etc.
If you have a Darning Mushroom, bring it, but it’s not necessary to buy one for the class.

Materials provided in workshop are:

(2) 9” squares of fabric for Samples
(1) 8” x 10” piece for practice stitches.
Assorted embroidery floss to share
in class
Image transfer materials
Some fabric scraps to share
Student Handouts
Slideshow PDF of examples
Patterns and other ideas to share