Category Archives: events by others

Repairathon tomorrow at Brickworks

Just a reminder that we’ll be repairing clothes tomorrow (Saturday) at Evergreen Brickworks, as part of 100 in 1 Day.  We’ll be there from 9am-12:30am, alongside their fantastic farmers’ market. Also don’t forget, you can you can get there by bike, TTC from Davisville, or free bus from Broadview station. I believe we will be at the south end near the entrances from the parking lot.

Bring clean clothing in need of small repairs, not more than 2-3 per person, and don’t forget to thank our generous volunteers.

Other items to note

  • If you can’t make it to the Repairathon, check out the Really Really Free Market, which is also tomorrow.
  • A week after the Repairathon is the next Repair Café, this time at North York Central Library. Their events are great, and they do repairs of everything, not just clothing.
  • The Toronto Environmental Alliance is running a Waste-Free Challenge. They’ve posted 10 simple actions you can take right now to reduce waste, and they’ve got prizes too 🙂

 

 

The Repairathon is Back for April

The Clothing Repairathon took a bit of a hiatus for the winter, but it’s time for a new season. On April 26th, we’ll be back at Artscape Wychwood Barns, alongside The Stop’s Farmers’ Market, the same great venue as our very first event. We’ll be repairing clothing from 8:30am to 12:30pm.

Bring clean clothing in need of small repairs, not more than 2-3 per person, and don’t forget to thank our generous volunteers.

Speaking of which, we’re looking for more volunteers, for the April event and others. Please let us know if you’d be interested in helping with repair or event coordination. There’s no commitment necessary.

Also, don’t forget other great events happening soon:

Lastly, it looks like our sister group in Edmonton has been doing great. Check out this video of them on the news.

St Lawrence Market Recap

I’m a little behind in posting this, but we had a fantastic event at St Lawrence Market on September 28th. But first, news from elsewhere:

The St Lawrence Market went well from the beginning. Shortly after I arrived to set up, I was interviewed for 680 News and we were heard on the radio about an hour later. Unfortunately I haven’t found any recording. Photos from the event will also be in the upcoming issue of Snapd Downtown Toronto.

Our volunteers for the event were Michael (myself), Jenny, Mardy, Bebi, Bianca, Ernie, and Stephan. Thanks so much to all of you for making this happen. Also thanks very much to our generous “customers,” who provided us with some excellent fruit and pastries from the market.

Stephan, Jenny, Mardy, Bebi, Bianca, and Michael, hard at work. We need a bigger table :-)

Stephan, Jenny, Mardy, Bebi, Bianca, and Michael, hard at work. We need a bigger table 🙂

A customer learns to sew :-)

A customer learns to sew 🙂

Ernie with a customer and his repaired bag

Ernie with a customer and his repaired bag

Bebi showing how to use a sewing machine

Bebi showing how to use a sewing machine

Mardy with a customer and her repaired purse

Mardy with a customer and her repaired purse

Thanks also to Renata Janiszewska, who chose to thank us with a piece of her artwork, shown below. Created in 2013.

Untitled artwork

 

Lastly, we may be taking it a bit slow over the next few months. As always, we’ll post here on our blog when we have a date for the next event.

August Recap and News Roundup

Just over a week ago was our fourth event. I’ll share news of that, but first, there are some other items of note.

The Art of Finishing is a workshop on Wednesday at the Toronto Tool Library on staining and finishing wood, as well as “refinishing, and fixing nicks and scratches in furniture.” Speaking of the Tool Library, they are now raising money to open a second tool library and makerspace. Take a look and maybe you’ll be inclined to contribute.

Our friends at the Repair Café will be participating in the St. Clair Centennial Celebration on September 14th, so it will be another good chance to get your stuff repaired.

The Repair Café joined us back on August 17th, when we shared a tent together at the York-Eglinton International Street Festival.

We had an excellent crew of volunteers: Michael (myself), Barbara, Shelly, Sue, Monica, Susan, and Rosemary. Susan was nice enough to bring her sewing machine. Here’s a couple of photos from the event.

Barbara, working on a backpack

Barbara, working on a backpack

Closeup of some of the backpack work

Closeup of some of the backpack work

Susan, sewing a hole in a pair of pants by hand, before adding a patch over top for added strength

Susan, sewing a hole in a pair of pants by hand, before adding a patch over top for added strength

Susan with the repaired pants and their happy owner

Susan with the repaired pants and their happy owner

Thanks so much to our volunteers, as well as to the library staff at the Maria A. Shchuka library for inviting us to come.

For those that missed us there, we’ll let you know when we have a date for our next event. Remember, you can always sign up to get notified by email.

August Repairathon(s)

I’m happy to announce our next Repairathon.

It turns out that getting enough volunteers for weekend events in the summer can be a bit tricky, what with everyone’s vacations. We had some plans for July events but decided that it would be too difficult to run them without enough people. If you know anyone who might be interested in helping us out, let us know!

So, the next Repairathon will be… Saturday, August 17, noon to 3:30pm. We’ll be part of the York-Eglinton International Street Festival, at Maria A. Shchuka Library, 1745 Eglinton Avenue West. Our friends from the Repair Café will also have an information booth there. You can also find our event on Facebook.

Speaking of the Repair Café, their next event is even sooner, Saturday August 10, 10am-2pm. There will clothing repair there as well.

Lastly, did anyone see us in us in SNAP? They’ve got photos from our last major event, with volunteers Emily and Sue.

End of June News Roundup

Lots of items today.

  • A reminder that our next event is on Sunday, only four days away. We’ll be somewhere within Kensington Market, alongside all the other activities for Kensington Pedestrian Sunday. We’re outdoors with no tent, so let’s hope there’s no rain.
  • Tonight (June 26) is the Toronto Tool Library‘s East Side Launch Party. Earlier this year, IRBE opened Toronto’s first tool library, which loans out a wide variety of tools for a low annual membership. The first location is around Queen and Lansdowne, and this party is to celebrate a new location near Danforth and Coxwell. This second location is still undergoing renovations, but when open will also include a makerspace with all sorts of equipment that can be used on-site.
  • Our friends at the Toronto Repair Café are holding their second event on July 6, 10am-2pm at Skills for Change (791 St Clair Avenue West). You can also see photos from their first event. Most likely one or more of us from the Repairathon will be there. Just like us, they’re continuing to look for additional volunteers.
  • Toronto’s next Really Really Free Market is also July 6, 10am-6pm at Campbell Park. If you haven’t been before, it’s just what it sounds like. Drop off usable items (such as clothing) that you no longer want, and/or take some items that someone else dropped off. It’s all free, of course. The RRFM is the first Saturday of each month, and at some point, we will hold a Repairathon there.
  • I’m very slowly making some improvements to the website. Today I added a list of the Repairathon’s goals to our home page.
  • Lastly, I wanted to point out the great work of the Calgary Repair Café, which is holding emergency repair events due to the flooding. I’m guessing they’ll be seeing a lot of products with water damage.

Reminder: Repair Cafe Tomorrow

Just a reminder that our friends at the Repair Café Toronto are hosting their first event tomorrow. Their goal is much more ambitious than the Repairathon’s; while we are focused on clothing so far, they are hoping to repair anything. It will also be more hands-on, with volunteers helping you to repair your own items. So if you’ve got anything needing repair, or you have some repair abilities, head on over. Saturday May 25, 10am-2pm, at 791 St. Clair Avenue West.

I’m sadly unable to attend myself, but I know that at least one Repairathon volunteer (Monica) will probably be there. You can see her in some of the photos from our previous event. I hope it goes well and that there will be many more events in the future.

Speaking of future events, we’re still working on planning our events for the rest of this summer. As always, let us know if you have any ideas. And of course, we’re always looking for new volunteers, with or without sewing experience. Join us, it’ll be fun 🙂

Repair Cafe in May

Our friends at the Repair Café Toronto are getting ready for their first event on May 25th. It will be similar to the Repairathon, and also modeled after other Repair Cafés worldwide, but it’s more hands-on; helping you do the repairs rather than doing them for you. It will also be much broader: they are hoping to repair all manner of housewares, from chairs to toasters to jewelry and anything else.

Learn how to Reupholster

This event isn’t being run by the Repairathon, but we thought you would want to hear about it. I’ve copied the information from their website. I also posted this on Waste Nothing, another website I run.

Old Made New: Reupholstery and You!

April 25, 2013, 4pm-6pm

CSI Annex, 720 Bathurst Street, in the ING Presentation Space

Knowing how to repair old furniture is a great way to keep things out of the landfill. In this Eco-Month workshop with Val Johnson, learn how to determine whether a piece is worth saving, how to remove old upholstery and prep pieces for reupholstering, and basic reupholstering techniques.

Bring an old chair, cushion or other covered piece with you to the workshop and get expert advice on whether it’s worth saving and how to go about giving it new life! Even if you don’t have something to bring in, the skills you’ll learn in this workshop will give you confidence when it comes to fixing a beloved piece or bargain-hunting for fixer-uppers!

For more information, contact heather@socialinnovation.ca