This past Saturday was the first Clothing Repairathon, and I am happy to say that it was a great success.
Our volunteers were Michael (that’s me), Barbara, Mardy, Kim, and Bianca, armed with thread, buttons, and other great supplies from our generous donors. We were scheduled to begin at 10am, but by 9:45 people were bringing their clothes and we got started early.
We attracted a lot of attention. Not just by people needing repair work and dropping off donations of sewing supplies, but pretty much everyone that passed by wanted to see what we were doing. The most common question by far was “will you be back again every week?” So many people told us what a great idea it was, and were also surprised to realize that all repairs were free :-).
Most clothes came during the first half of the event, but we were still pretty busy from beginning to end. We’d planned to have two people sewing at a time, but actually had as many as four, and so we ended up taking over the next table at the market when that vendor left for the day.
Michael, Kim, Bianca, Mardy (mostly hidden), and Barbara on her sewing machine
Michael (adding someone to our newsletter), Kim, and Mardy. Photo from Twitter
Mardy and Barbara, hard at work
before Bianca’s handiwork
after Bianca’s handiwork
A sweater arrives…
… and leaves with its owner happier
another happy “customer”