Visible Mending with Gemma and Jacqueline
Join Gemma and Jacqueline as we learn about taking care of our clothes and how our clothes can take care of us
Join us at 5pm for food and refreshments
Join Gemma and Jacqueline as we learn about taking care of our clothes and how our clothes can take care of us. Together we’ll practice different ways of visibly mending our clothes to extend their lives and create stories of wear and repair.
Throguhout the evening there will also be a clothes swap to help find new homes for clothes with lots more life in them, but that no longer work for us. If you have any pre-loved clothes of your own please bring them to swap with others.
Whilst we sew we will have conversations around slow making, the impacts of fast fashion, objects of care and the future of clothing in a just and hopeful future. Bring any clothes or fabrics that need mending or practice on the scrap fabrics that we'll provide. No skills needed, just an interest in sewing and learning with your hands and your minds!
We will have needles, pins and scissors around so bear in mind that little ones need to be accompanied.
Join Gemma and Jacqueline as we learn about taking care of our clothes and how our clothes can take care of us
Join us at 5pm for food and refreshments
Join Gemma and Jacqueline as we learn about taking care of our clothes and how our clothes can take care of us. Together we’ll practice different ways of visibly mending our clothes to extend their lives and create stories of wear and repair.
Throguhout the evening there will also be a clothes swap to help find new homes for clothes with lots more life in them, but that no longer work for us. If you have any pre-loved clothes of your own please bring them to swap with others.
Whilst we sew we will have conversations around slow making, the impacts of fast fashion, objects of care and the future of clothing in a just and hopeful future. Bring any clothes or fabrics that need mending or practice on the scrap fabrics that we'll provide. No skills needed, just an interest in sewing and learning with your hands and your minds!
We will have needles, pins and scissors around so bear in mind that little ones need to be accompanied.
About Your Hosts
Gemma (she/her) learnt to sew in school where she dreamed about a career in fashion. After a meandering path through some other creative spaces (jewellery, film, projection mapping, service design and more!) she returned to her sewing machine as an adult when she got fed up with stores not catering for her body. She now makes her own clothes and is developing a quilting practice to make beautiful objects from scrap materials to give to other as a practice of care.
She's interested in applied arts, something historically seen as ‘Women's’ work, and how they can be transformed into something feminist, radical and subversive through their messages and stories and in the care and love that is put into them - in itself a radical act.
Jacqueline (she/her) is a B16 neighbour who has been known to dabble in needle craft of all sorts. She takes pleasure in not just saving damaged clothing items from the landfill, but making them better than new through creative embellishment. Mending the material goods that enter our lives is a way to practice planetary and community care. Jacqueline enjoys making and repairing things collectively, fixing her children's torn clothes, quilt-making, making gifts for friends and family, and participating in the local community.
Access
The Midland Sailing Club site is accessible from the footpath around Edgbaston Reservoir. You can walk or ride your bike, or reach the site via bus route 80, which stops on Icknield Port Road or 82, 87, 89, 11 which stop a short walk away on Dudley Road. We encourage arriving by foot or public transport where possible. If arriving by car, you can park inside the gates at the Icknield Port Road entrance.
Trade School takes place in the main room upstairs. There is a lift up to the Midland Sailing Club, and please let us know if you have any accessibility requirements so we can assist you.
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What's the Exchange?
Neighbourhood Trade School is based on the principle that everyone has something to share and everyone has something to learn. We invite each class host to choose items that they would find useful and delightful to receive in return for their time and experience in sharing a skill, so we invite you to explore which of our host's barter items you would like to bring along with you, if you are able to do so.
Gemma and Jacqueline's barter list:
- Clothes for the clothes swap!
- Plant pots
- Seeds and seedlings
- Second hand garden tools
- Fabric (natural fibers preferred) and sewing odds and ends
- Crafting or sewing books/magazines
Dive Deeper Into Peer To Peer Learning
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About Neighbourhood Trade School
Neighbourhood Trade School is based on the principle that everyone has something to share and everyone has something to learn.
What if we could activate the potential in our homes, streets, libraries, playgrounds, schools and more as places to exchange learning together in a kind, joyful, noble and intergenerational way that is available to all of us?
We invite you to explore how exchanging skills and knowledge of many forms can make our neighbourhoods resilient to the challenges and opportunities we will face together, now and in the future. Discover what you’d love to share or learn more about, as we shape Neighbourhood Trade School together.