Monday Mending Club
What is it?
Our mending club runs in the evening, every first Monday of the month at The Bell in Walthamstow. People bring something they want to mend and we share equipment and know-how.
It runs for two hours, giving people time to make some real progress on their repair project(s) and to chat – the social aspect is really important. We meet new people or get to know old friends better, helping to strengthen our community.
It’s the kind of activity that is meditative, calming and leaves enough room for conversation.
We also run a daytime session for families and kids called the Family Mending Club, find out more here.
Join the club
Date
First Monday of every month
Time
7pm to 9pm
Location
The Bell, E17
Cost
£0.00
Alternative daytime session
Family Mending Club
Our aims.
We want to help strengthen our creative community.
To show that mending is fun and personally rewarding.
To celebrate repaired clothes and help remove any lingering stigma associated with them.
To be gently subversive, working to undermine consumerism.
To give people a concrete, positive behaviour that is planet positive!
For people to be able to easily replicate this.
Inspiration.
The idea was inspired by Suzi Warren’s ‘Stitch it, don’t ditch it’ campaign. A gentle form of protest where people take a seat in front of fast-fashion retailers and quietly mend something. It’s a beautiful idea that has now spread all over the world. The Repair Manifesto is another source of inspiration along with the idea that the act of repair is a form of rebellion in today’s hyper-consumerist world.
Our principals.
We want the mending sessions to be open and accessible to people of all ages, gender, race and religion.
We want the sessions to be relaxed, welcoming and open. There is no dogma to subscribe to, people are free to take from them what they want.
Follow our progress on Insta.
How’s it going?
The sessions have been a real joy. Relaxed and inviting (we hope) where people have the space to mend what they like and chat, taking their time to explore something new and meet new people.
What’s next?
We’re building on these Monday evening sessions at The Bell, offering something more widely accessible. It’s called the Family Mending Club and runs every third Sunday, 11am to 1pm at Arbeit Studios, 778-782 High Rd Leyton.
I didn’t feel I had anything I needed to mend bar a few buttons to sew on a coat, but going along to mending club really opened my mind about what sort of things can have fresh life breathed into them and how enjoyable it might be to do that. The gentle, friendly chat and open discussion on ways to tackle a project is so different to my day to day pressurised working life. It’s a chance to focus on something small but that brings a lot of satisfaction, and meet a group I wouldn’t usually encounter in daily life.
— Isobel, Monday Mender
Project team
-
Mika Sembongi
ORIGINATOR
PROJECT LEAD -
Sam Griffiths
PROJECT LEAD