the mending room
Mending: a time honoured and necessary part of life up until just a generation or two ago. Acquiring new clothing was an investment of time and money and expected to last for many years. While there have always been trends in fashion, things moved slower and the basics remained constant. Pieces were well constructed and meant to last. Hems could be let down or taken up, collars swapped out, pieces could be over-dyed, buttons changed, waistbands taken in or let out.
Enter fast-fashion. In order to maintain the current frenetic pace of clothing production and sales, fashion trends move at warp speed. Keeping up requires the constant acquisition of new and often poorly made garments sold at absurdly low prices. While prices are low, the costs are enormous: exploitative labour practices, toxic chemicals in fabrics and clothes discarded at shocking rates. We know all this and we understand that it doesn’t have to be this way. We can spend the same amount of money and buy fewer, better pieces. Once we commit to changing our relationship with our clothes, we need a few tools: needles and thread, scissors and some pins, and! mending skills.
This is where we come in. Join us as we explore the vast world that is mending.
September 22nd through September 27, 2025
Jodi Green (Levigator Press) and Lisa Sylvestre (asil) will present the Mending Room, an annual pop-up exhibit and workshop series.
ArtSpeak gallery, 1942 Wyandotte St. E , Windsor
Monday, September 22
Mending Intensive Workshop, 6-8pm. $20.00
Tuesday, September 23
Opening Reception for the Mending Room 5-8pm
Sewing circle 6-8pm
Wednesday, September 24
Mending Intensive Workshop. 1-3pm. $20.00
Thursday, September 25
It’s a Sewing Party! 6-9pm
Saturday, September 27
Intro to Mending Workshops, 11am-noon and 2-3pm
The Saturday workshops are free, in partnership with Ontario Culture Days, and will give you a very basic start in your mending journey. Our other workshops are more intensive, and require registration. To reserve your spot in a workshop, please visit the asil website and choose your class! Link: asil.ca classes
