An new and exciting event, Tracing the Threads of Resourcefulness – a Mending, Upcycling and Textile Fair, will take place on Sunday October 15th, 2023 from 12N to 4PM. The event will showcase 19th century textile collections, traditional textile artists along with contemporary artists whose creative work includes upcycling, patching, stitching and mending. October 15th is also the museum’s closing day for the season.
The robust group of planners (including staff, volunteers and community members) intend for the event to look at the frugality of the past and the lessons it can teach us about the present: the resourcefulness of our ancestors, the fibers that were used to repair, mend, reuse and even recycle bits and rags into paper or quilts, and, by contrast, today’s current fast fashion habits that leave landfills overloaded.
The event will offer something for every age! There will be a (Stuffed) Animal Repair hospital set up in the Homestead Building. Stitching and mending “nurses” will provide love and repair to your child’s favorite stuffed animals. Children’s books related to the theme will be shown on looping videos. For a more mature crowd, demonstrators in the Grammar School will show how fleece and jersey fabric can be upcycled using appliqué and reverse appliqué to create unique apparel, accessories, and home decor. This technique can give beautiful new life to worn out t-shirts and sweatshirts and make use of small scraps of fabric that would otherwise end up in the landfill. Skilled volunteers will offer minor repairs to home fiber items with sewing machines and hand-stitching. Vintage sewing machine tune-ups are being offered by pre registration. Contact outreach@oldstonehousemuseum.org.
Special textile museum tours at 1PM and 3PM. Artists demonstrating spinning, weaving, rug hooking, rug braiding, quilting and more will be on display. Relevant items usually in storage will be shown, including Mercy Twilight’s (Alexander Twilight’s wife) school alphabet cross stitch, pages from the Brownington Sewing Circle journal (1841 to 1867), and more. The journal records offer a glimpse into the critical role of women’s activism in social causes of the period. The sewing circle brought Brownington women into the public sphere through the creation of items that addressed issues ranging from child welfare, indigenous peoples and slavery. The group donated goods intended for newly emancipated African Americans left without adequate clothing.
A full program description with artists listed will be available at the museum’s gift shop the week of the event and at the registration tables at the Grammar School on the day of. Don’t forget to stop by the gift shop when you come to the event so you can browse the last-day-of-the-season sale with many items listed at 25% off.
The textile museum tours will be offered at $12.00 per participant with tour sign-ups taking place the day of the event.