Join local textile artist and educator Jane Yu of Niche Knits in a visible mending workshop to personalize your clothes and save them from the landfill. This technique is a pragmatic way of extending the life of a garment, but it is also an act of resistance against consumerism and the fast-fashion industry. With every stitch, you will deepen your relationship with your clothing and increase its significance. All mending is done using sharp scissors, fabric scraps, pins, yarn/thread, a sharp needle, and an iron. Whether your garment has small, everyday holes or larger damage, bring it to the Art Lab and explore what creative possibilities there are for its new life.

Jane Yu of Niche Knits is a textiles specialist and knitwear design professor at the Academy of Art University. She has worked in New York and trained in haute couture embroidery in Paris and machine knitting in the United Kingdom. Her interests are around a different culture of consumerism: slow fashion, sustainability, and creative potential within constraints and discarded material.