A REPAIR cafe where people can bring their clothing in need of a few stitches and learn how to fix them, under the guiding hand of a skilled tutor, will be held in Newcastle in July.
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Upcycle Newcastle, a part of Transition Newcastle, and The Commons are coming together to help share sewing skills. In doing so they have made available sewing machines which will be set up for use. Participants can hem, fix holes, patch, repair split seams and smalls tears, stitch up a button, and let out their seams.
“In this era of cheap, disposable clothing, as a society we’ve lost some basic sewing skills,” The Common’s Jess Miller said.
“Many people don’t feel confident enough to attempt to fix their own clothes, and figure it’s easier to just buy a new garment.
“But Australians buy an average of 27 kilograms of new textiles each year and then discard 23 kilograms into landfill. We have to stop this appalling waste. It’s killing our environment.
“This repair cafe is a drop-in event, where people will be able to sit down with an experienced sewing tutor and be guided in how to make simple repairs, so they can save their favourite clothes from an inglorious end.
The skills they learn here, they can take home and use to rescue other favourites.”
Organisers have asked participants only bring items which need minor repairs and not refashioning.
The repair cafe will be held at The Commons Community hub, ground floor at 152 Beaumont Street on Saturday, July 8.