Rips, Tears & Reinforcing is part of our Repair and Renew series of workshops that guide you through the stitches and techniques to help you deal imaginatively with some of the more common repairs you’ll come across.

In this class we look at a broad range of repairs, from a split seam too bringing the two edges of a tear back together. We’ll look at using patches in a traditional and a more contemporary fashion that will reenforce weak areas. For instance, you will learn the amazing things that can be done with the fishbone stitch and the arrowhead tack.

Tutor Becky Davies-Downes is fashion designer by training and costumer in the television industry for many years. She’s a specialist in 1940s fashion and takes a contemporary approach to the essential skills brought to the fore by the Make Do and Mend Movement that swept Britain in the War years. She relishes discovering tips and tricks from the past and bringing them up to date for modern fabrics. This is slow-crafting that’s good for your pocket, good for your well-being and good for the environment.

Others in the series include:

Visible Darning – Saturday 14 September 2024
This takes a new approach to darning using colour and pattern. It enables you to visibly darn large and small areas in knitted textiles. It’s a stylised approach to darning, no invisible repairs in this class! You don’t need to be able to do traditional darning, just bring an open mind and some creativity.

Mending Small Holes – Saturday 12 October 2024
Mending Small Holes lets you master techniques for small repairs in woven or knitted fabrics. Whatever the cause, snags, pulls and small holes need repairing before they get larger and more problematic. So in this session you’ll learn stitches like blanket stitch and the tailor’s buttonhole stitch, and use them to explore scotch and blanket stitch darning. We’ll also look at more creative ways to deal with small holes and how to incorporate them into a larger design.

Skill Level: no previous experience is required for any of the Repair & Renew workshops.

Book one at a time, or three Repair & Renew classes over the year for a £10 reward to spend online.

Each participant receives a 10% off voucher to spend online or put towards another workshop.

Access notice: there are two flights of stairs to the workroom in our medieval building at 32 Coppergate, York YO1 9NR. We sincerely apologise if this prevents anyone attending.