iâr studio aims to spread the love of textiles.
There’s joy in learning to alter and mend but it’s also so important for the life of our things and the planet we inhabit.
Menna (PGCE, DBS) works with all ages and abilities, guiding learners through basic hand-sewing for buttons and hems to patching and quilting techniques using machines.
Skills sharing sessions may be project or technique focused.
‘Make new & mend’ – hems, buttons and patching skills for wardrobe health.
‘Basic sewing’ – using a sewing machine to make a simple design with button and zip.
‘Up-cycling’ – design and sew something new from something old.
‘Boro & Kantha’ – a cultural journey in hand-stitching to mend and up-cycle.
‘Sew your own’ – pattern cutting and sewing course, make clothes that fit.
The practice of repairing and altering clothes should be integral to wearing them. Charity shops are great, but far too many of our torn or well-worn clothes end up in them, or in the bin. Around 350,000 tonnes of used clothing worth £140 million goes to landfill every year. Through skills sharing workshops aimed at giving people of all ages the confidence to alter clothes and re-imagine scrap fabrics, iâr studio hopes to save some textiles from an early end and normalise the wearing of fixed-up things.