https://reasonstobecheerful.world/clothing-visible-mending/
"Once a month between April and October, a group of stitchers takes to the
streets of Edinburgh, making themselves comfortable on camping chairs decorated
with hand-embroidered banners inviting people to #stitchitdontditchit. Equipped
with sewing baskets and mending skills, they repair their garments in public
and teach interested passers-by how to do the same.
The Edinburgh Street Stitchers, as they call themselves, are part of a growing
movement that is reclaiming the ancient art of mending. Historically, mending
was done in private and in ways that concealed, rather than announced, the
repair. Choosing instead to mend visibly — whether through the color of the
stitching or by doing it in a public location — is a statement and a
conversation starter.
“You are clearly stating that you have kept this from a landfill,” says Kate
Sekules, a mender who teaches fashion history at the Pratt Institute in
Brooklyn and is pursuing a PhD in the history and theory of mending. “It’s also
got the advantage of making everything you own unique and special. And when
you’ve invested time and energy and thought and craft into your clothing, you
value it so much more.”
Inspired by the global Street Stitching movement, the former pharmacist Mary
Morton started the Edinburgh group in 2022, three years after a discussion with
her son sent her down a rabbit hole of research and learning about the climate
crisis. “At the end of all of that, I was absolutely horrified. I thought,
‘What can I do about it?’” she recalls."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
