Mending in community is more fun than mending alone

I attended some mending meet-ups and my dad learned how to darn

Right before COVID I learned how to darn at a meet-up in Williamsburg…then it was the pandemic…then I had a child, which adds logistics complexity to any in-person activity. I’ve been mending for 5 years or so, but hadn’t prioritized mending with others. 

Until this past summer, when I realized two obvious things: 1) a big part of why I started this newsletter was to connect with other people on mending and 2) that these connections didn’t need to happen digitally!! Here I am living in a city of 8M people!!! There had to be some mending meet-ups going on. I started Googling. 

Since then I’ve attended five different community-based repair events (and one mending related talk!) and this is the main thing I’ve learned.

Mending in community is more fun than mending alone. 

No matter which event, it was nice to be doing something with my hands while talking to someone new. Or not talking at all, just working in parallel. 

At each meet-up everyone brought a project (or multiple projects) from their mending pile. There were generally mending supplies on hand to buy or borrow and an air of informal knowledge-share. Folks arriving with projects that stumped them and finding others with tips on hand.

There are indeed lots of mending events happening around NYC. Here are a few I attended the past few months: 

1. Recylpt’s mending circle (once at IVX coffee and once at Fabscrap!) These were my favorite of the bunch. Good size – small enough to easily talk to others, big enough to have a good mix of people to talk to – friendly folks, and an interesting mix of projects people had underway. 

   Fabscrap is a very cool textile recycling facility based in the beautiful Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park. While it’s not the most conveniently located space for me personally, it was fun to browse while there for the mending event. I picked up some yarn cards, likely samples from a sweater manufacturer, that have already proven really great for darning. 

   Recylpt, a circular fashion community group in NYC, has since actually merged into Fabscrap, so their events are on pause for the fall, but I hope they return in the New Year!

   

   Part of the Brooklyn Army Terminal (where Fabscrap is based) on the left, and my yarn samples I picked up for $1 each while there on the right

2. Knitty City’s mending circle. Knitty City is a well-stocked yarn shop in the Upper West Side. Their weekly mending circle takes place at a table in the middle of the shop, and was a small group but very warm. I found it impossible to leave without picking up a new skein of yarn, so now I’ve got a baby cardigan with something prettily hand-dyed.

   

   The front of Knitty City and the appropriately knitty tree in front of the shop

3. Textile Arts Center’s monthly ‘Darn It!’ mending club. So many people were there for the mending club that the group spilled out into tables in two different rooms. Held typically the first Sunday of every month, the group seemed like a nice mix of regulars and those new to mending. The organizers/facilitators (the day I was there it was Hekima Hapa of Black Girl Sew and Martina Cox) had brought a lot of materials and the Textile Arts Center is such a well-stocked space.  Everyone was friendly but I missed the camaraderie a smaller group provides.

   

   The well-stocked supplies table at the 'Darn it!' mending club on the left, and my still in-progress sweater from the insta stories from the talented Martina Cox (one of the organizers!) on the right

4. Bushwick’s Repair Fest. Organized by the Clean Bushwick Initiative, the event featured expert repairers of many different stripes – electronics, carpentry, jewelry, lighting and indeed, clothing. They were prepared to help folks fix things, with an emphasis on teaching the technique as they did it.

   I went with my father and came away with several repaired pieces of jewelry, some new darning technique ideas and most excitingly of all, a father who had tried darning himself for the first time! He was very excited about the concept and proudly showed me the darned heel of the sock in action on his foot the next day.

   

   

   Scenes from the Bushwick Repair Fest! My dad, happy that the zipper on his sweater was fixed and in-progress with his first darn. I got set-up to repair a pair of my daughter's leggings using this hoisin sauce jar instead of a darning egg or mushroom. I loved the jar trick! It made the surface of the hole really easy to work with.

Places I follow that seem to host regular mending meet-ups and classes outside of NYC: 

1. Old Flame Mending (Pittsburgh)

2. Suay (Los Angeles)

3. Top Stitch Mending (Richmond)

4. Little Cliff Mending (St Louis)

Any in-person mending or crafting events that you have enjoyed? I’m selfishly especially interested in New York events, but curious about any communal experiences. YouTube is incredible but it’s just easier and nicer to learn from an in-person demonstration, and fun to then chat to the person after. 

Thanks for coming on this meet-up digression with me. Next time we’ll (actually) be back with the interview about shoe maintenance and sneaker upcycling with cobbler bushwick co!