Classes are for students 18+ unless otherwise noted.
Fees are for one adult and one child unless otherwise noted. Please register under adult’s name.
Classes for high school students
Creatively repair your damaged clothes with hand stitching techniques. First learn how to repair holes, tears, and stains in clothing made of woven fabrics using fabric patches and simple hand embroidery stitches. Then we will concentrate on darning, a fabric mending technique for woven or knit fabrics that involves reinforcing or re-weaving a portion by hand. Learn about tools and materials for visible mending and make a sampler of both techniques that you can refer back to later. No hand sewing or mending experience required.
The class materials list can be found here. (Please do not purchase materials until we confirm that the class has met the minimum enrollment.)
Jessamy Shay Kilcollins is a textile artist, mender, and fashion designer whose work focuses on sustainability and handcraft processes. She holds a BFA in Fibers and a Certificate in Fashion Design from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. In January 2020, she was one of eight designers from the Northeast selected to participate in a sustainable fashion design competition called Project Upcycle, and she was awarded second place for her gala look sewed from repurposed secondhand clothing. Her current project is AMENDED, a collection of creatively mended vintage garments that would otherwise end up in the textile waste stream.
Jessamy has taught mending in the Boston area at the The Eliot School of Fine and Applied Arts, Make & Mend, the Cambridge Public Library, and the Somerville Public Library. She also participates in sustainability-focused mending pop-up events in and around Somerville, where she co-owns High Energy Vintage with her partner. They live with two cats and way too many chairs in an old nut factory.
Jessamy Kilcollins
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