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Posts in community art
Slow stitching and visible mending

With climate action in the forefront of peoples minds, reduce, reuse and recycle are steps we can each take to make a difference.

This is especially true for our clothes and the fast fashion industry that seems so disposable.

Learning how to repair those loved items rather than buy new and replace is a great start - and very satisfying.

The art of visible mending and slow stitching have become increasingly fashionable skills that also help extend the life of our clothes - keeping them from landfill.

And … these skills also create moments of mindfulness to enjoy and help us slow down!

Serene Paul is a talented local artists who does beautiful eco-dyeing and hand stitching to create art and repair clothing … and we are fortunate to have her returning to the Alphington Community Centre to share her talents.

She has been a maker all her life with sewing a childhood obsession, followed by studying fashion design and working in the fashion industry for a number of years. She is slowly building her own handmade and thrifted wardrobe and likes to make each piece unique by using hand stitching techniques along with patching, natural dyeing and appliqué.

Serene will be running a one-off Slow Stitching workshop on Saturday 20th of August from 10am-2pm. She will show you the stitches and you can practice them yourself with a kit that is provided. The cost is $50 and you can enrol here.

She will also run a monthly Visible Mending session. Bring your project and sew and chat and share skills. Join Serene from 10-11:30am on the first Saturday of each month by enrolling here.

Please keep in mind that each workshop and each group requires a minimum number of people to attend for it to run. So if you are keen and know other friends that share your interest then please enrol and encourage your friends to join in too!



Craft and chat ...

Anne and Marie-Louise are keen to rebuild our Friday morning Craft and Chat session … which somewhat petered out over Covid. With winter here there’s NO BETTER TIME to take a couple hours out of your week to get creative, and meet up with other locals who share your interests and talents!

Also, if you are just a beginner … Anne has loads of sewing skills to share … and we have some sewing machines here you can practise on. She’s also a knitter - if you want to learn to knit. And Marie-Louise is a crocheter - who is also happy to share her skills.

So, if you’d like to get together and Craft and Chat on Friday’s from 10am-12pm (with morning tea at 11.30am) please come along from Monday 11 July (the start of Term 3).

Anne and Marie-Louise would love to welcome you!

Winter art exhibition

A reminder that Local artists are invited to join in our upcoming exhibition.

And local locals are invited to come along! We’ll have an opening event on Friday 22 July from 5-8pm (with some drinks and nibbles) and the exhibition will remain open over the weekend from 11am -5pm.

Lots of our favourites from Alphington Open Studios will be part of the event - and some new artists have already registered as well.

If you are keen to be involved you can register on our website here.

Conversation table

What IS the first thing you think about in the morning? This week we started a new community art project with the sander and dremel … engraving some conversation starters in our timber tables that live out on the front corner.

Keep an eye out for the finished product coming soon … and perhaps trial our questions next time you sit down there for a morning coffee or bike riding break …