“Bring torn or worn clothing and learn how to mend them,” offers Jeanne Ellsworth, a fiber artist and home sewer featured in Catskills Folk Connection’s Folk Art in Fiber in Delaware County exhibit. She will present a mending café at the exhibit site, the Delaware County Historical Association in Delhi, Sunday, Nov. 10 at 1 p.m.
She will help with clothes that are too good to throw away, but have something that prevents you from using them.
Home sewing used to be a regular practice in Delaware County households. To avoid having to buy clothes at stores, parents sewed clothes for growing children and children learned to sew their own clothes. Patching and repairing work clothes were ordinary events. Families saved money by using cloth that came into the household with other items. Bags from sugar and flour, and even feed bags and milk filters, were reused to make clothing and other household textiles. Today many of these things are store-bought and learning to mend them will keep them useful for you.
Bring mending projects for which you need help, or ones you don’t know how to start. Jeanne will have some sewing notions available, but if you have matching fabric for a patch, or the right color thread, bring them. If you need help with a zipper, call Ginny Scheer at the number below to discuss the length and type of zipper needed.
At the mending café you will be able to visit the fiber art exhibit and see home-sewn garments in displays that include everyday and party clothing and gowns for bridal parties. You can also enjoy the rest of the exhibit that features extraordinary quilts, traditional sweaters, hand-spun yarn and garments, and several kinds of needlework.
For more information contact Ginny Scheer at 607-238-9162 or email gscheer.mcs@gmail.com
