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Course Description

Learn how to visibly mend damage to your clothing by using fabric patches and hand embroidery techniques. Visible mending is an approach to garment repair that prioritizes artistry and originality over invisibility. We’ll discuss tools and materials for patching, and you’ll learn different ways of combining patch fabrics and hand embroidery stitches to craft colorful, creative mends. Please bring a garment or two in need of mending to work on during class. Ideal garments for this technique include light- or medium-weight knits and wovens like tshirts, sweatshirts, button up shirts, skirts, dresses. Jeans with 2% or less spandex content will also work. Garments made of natural fibers like cotton, wool, and linen are best, but synthetics or blends work too. Activewear and clothing made of performance fabrics (like waterproof coats and spandex leggings) are not good candidates for this type of mending. Suitable for all experience levels.

Cancellation Policy

AAN depends upon student tuition to continue to offer classes and workshops. Due to our commitment to small class sizes and the hands-on nature of art education, we are greatly impacted by cancellations. Nevertheless, we do understand that plans change. If you need to cancel your reservation for a class or workshop, please note our cancellation/refund policy here and let us know as soon as possible.

Materials

Please bring articles of clothing or textiles you would like to repair. Additional materials will be provided.

Creative Visible Mending: Patching, 18+

Jessamy Shay

Jessamy Shay Kilcollins (b. 1984, Maine, USA) is a textile artist, educator, and sustainable fashion designer. She uses secondhand materials and handcraft processes to interrogate the roles of consumption and consumerism in modern society. Since 2022, she has been releasing creatively mended and upcycled garments made from textiles which might otherwise end up in the global waste stream under the label AMENDED. As part of her mission to educate others about the importance of textile repair and reuse, she teaches mending in the Boston area, and has taught at the The Eliot School of Fine and Applied Arts, and the Cambridge and Somerville Public Libraries, among others. She also offers garment repair services to the general public. Jessamy 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 was awarded second place for her gala look sewed from repurposed materials. She also co-owns High Energy Vintage with her partner in Somerville MA, where they live with two cats and way too many chairs in an old nut factory.
Full Artist Profile