Interwoven – Fashion Revolution Week 2024

Join us for 3 days of activities, workshops, speakers, and exhibits to explore how the wear and care of our clothes is entangled with the socio-environmental crisis. Let’s nourish healthy relationships with the clothes in our closet and the environments beyond. All events are donation based/free, if you require concessions for the donation based events, please get in touch via email.

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Opening Night

Thursday 2 May 5:30 – 8:30 pm

Tickets
Booking is essential. The tickets are available for a donation, if you require concessions please contact us and we will be more than happy to put you on the attendance list for free. 

Keynote speakers Kate Fletcher and Mathilda Tham of Earthlogic. 
Earth Logic is an uncompromisingly holistic approach to change. This means refusing to separate environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability. It also means addressing real challenges, like providing livelihoods in a world of less production and consumption.

Vocal Factory
Marvel in the sounds of a factory created with voices and a presentation by the initiator of the soundscape, artist Catriona Stamp.

Craft of Use Gallery & Photoshoot
Wear your most cherished, mended or story-worthy outfit and have your portrait taken by local photographer and artist Ginny Koppenhol for the gallery that will be hosted during the event and online. This project is based on Kate Raworth’s book and work, we’ll be gathering local stories of clothes and wearers. If you are unable to attend but want to submit a story, please follow this link: Submit your story.

Clothing Swap for a Story & Mending Surgery
You’ve heard “I got it for a song” how about “I got it for a story”. At our annual clothing swap, trade your unused-but-well-cared-for garments for a story. The price – 1 story per garment is required, we will compile them with the stories collected last year. We’ll also have materials on hand and volunteers to provide guidance on how to restyle, alter or mend items you take home. *Please note this year we will only accept clothing on Thursday and Friday, Saturday will be take away only.

Catering and drinks by two of our regional favourites Brew and Fell Brewery

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Friday 3 May

We have a wonderful lineup taking shape for Friday afternoon/evening including workshops around spinning and visible mending, a talk about Degrowth and our Clothing Swap for a Story & Mending Surgery will be taking place. We will also begin the dye pot for our Saturday event.

Clothing Swap for a Story & Mending Surgery
Friday 3 May 3:30 – 7:30 pm

You’ve heard “I got it for a song” how about “I got it for a story”. At our annual clothing swap, trade your unused-but-well-cared-for garments for a story. The price – 1 story per garment is required, we will compile them with the stories collected last year. We’ll also have materials on hand and volunteers to provide guidance on how to restyle, alter or mend items you take home. *Please note this year we will only accept clothing on Thursday and Friday, Saturday will be take away only.

Tickets: No need to book, just turn up on the day. 

Mending Circle
Friday 3 May 4:00 – 5:30pm

Bring your mending and join us for a discussion about Sewing Cafe Lancaster’s activities and ways to get involved in a variety of projects and regularly running sessions in Lancaster.

If you need assistance mending something, this is also the perfect time to bring your garment and ask for pointers or use an array of materials and tools for some hand mending.

Tickets: No need to book, just turn up on the day. 

How to: Start a Natural Dye Pot
Friday 3 May 6:00 pm

Drop in to learn about making a natural dye pot using food waste or local plants. We’ll be starting a dye pot that will be used at the Saturday event: Sow, Eat, Wear, Share, Dye, Rot, Renew – but you don’t need to attend both events to participate. If you’ve ever wondered about natural dyeing, this is a great taster to learn how to get started. Using simple kitchen scraps or locally foraged plants you can create some magic with very little energy use. Sewing Cafe Lancaster’s own Enda O’Regan and Katrina Barnish will provide the primer on setting up your own natural dye pot at home.

Tickets: No need to book, just turn up on the day. 

Sustainability & The Fashion Industry: An international view
Friday 3 May 7:00 – 8:30 pm

Join us to explore Sustainability and the fashion industry: an international view, hosted by Dr. Emma Cardwell of Lancaster University.

Tickets: No need to book, just turn up on the day. 

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Saturday 4 May

Alongside the Clothing Swap – with clothes available to take away only, and the Gallery being open to the public – we will be running some events and workshops.

Sow, Eat, Wear, Share, Dye, Rot, Renew
Saturday 4 May 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Tickets
Booking is essential due to the nature of the activities. The tickets are available for a donation, if you require concessions please contact us and we will be more than happy to put you on the attendance list for free. 

Organised in collaboration with FoodFutures: Closing Loops we will be hosting a daytime event and lunch. Learn about how processes of growing and foraging plants are interwoven with caring for our clothes and our environment. 

Join us for a day exploring the opportunities that local and seasonal eating brings – more than just a meal, we’re using plants to transform textiles that need a glow up. From foraging to growing our own, plants can be used for medicinal purposes, a tasty meal and we can even use our food waste to alter the colour of fabric before we put them in the compost.

Natural Dyes
Sewing Cafe Lancaster Natural Dye Group’s own Enda O’Regan and Katrina Barnish will share their adventures in natural dyeing using locally grown and foraged plants and seasonal food waste to update and transform clothing in order to give our wardrobes longer life. Learn how to make a solar dye pot (stop in Friday night to see it all begin) and get some tips for doing food waste dyes at home. 

Rot & renew
We hardly think about what happens to our textiles when they are donated to charity shops but somewhere around 85% of all our textiles end up in landfill, whether in our home country or overseas. Dr. Laura Pottinger will be presenting some of her project for the Textile Biennial which explored the environmental legacies of cotton. Experimenting with various natural dye related processes, including burying large strips of cotton different kinds of soil and compost, the work draws on the multiple meanings of a ‘litmus test’ – a universal, dye-based indicator of pH levels derived from lichen, and a social indicator proving success, impact or values. We will also hear from FoodFutures about the Community Composting happening in our area.

Drop Spinning Workshop 2:30 – 4:00pm

Tickets
Booking is essential as this workshop can only host a small number of participants.

A taster session exploring the basics of spinning your own yarn on a drop spindle.

Be guided though:
– How to hold fibre and spindle
– How twisting fibre works to create yarn
– What makes wool such a good fibre to spin
– Connect with others and with the history of this ancient craft.​

No experience necessary and all materials provided. Additional materials and kits may be available to purchase on the day.

Ruth’s passion for Spinning has grown from a desire to make her own knitting yarn from sustainable materials to encompass the whole process of turning fleece into yarn. Spinning in the city at first sight has many limitations, without the space or resources for spinning that living in the countryside would afford. The hints and tips Ruth has learnt from years of spinning in this way give a unique perspective to her spinning workshops.

Clothing Waste in Lancaster District: Discussion
5:00 – 7:00 pm