The Department of Culture, Communications and Media at the IOE have been organizing “Sustainability Skills Swapshops”. These are open sessions led by staff or students on a voluntary basis that involve a demonstration of and/or hands-on participation in a sustainability skill.

What will we do?

• 12-1pm we will mend a sock! Bring a sock that is thinning or has a manageable hole, and is thus worth saving. We will learn how to repair it together drawing from inspirational examples including our own!
• 1-2pm for those who want to extend their mending skills, bring any item and let’s explore together different techniques to repair it. To help get us started, post a picture of your item, and explain what needs mending under the ‘mending and darning’ channel – don’t forget to tag general which notifies members to look out for your post. Posting can help other members propose possible ideas, which we can explore together in person. If you are an expert mender, we would love to have you at the session and learn from you!

What to bring

• For the first part you need a sock, a darning needle and mending wool. If you don’t have mending wool, please bring one pound, and we can supply this at the session.
• For the second part, bring your garment/item, your darning needle, and any materials you want to use. We will bring ours too and we are happy to share! We will have spare needles too!