Traditional patching *

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Teacher: Maris Taul

Maris Taul is a student of native textiles at the UT Viljandi Culture Academy. She has taken a deeper interest in repair since 2017. Maris has volunteered with the Repair Cafe in Tartu as a textile repair master. During her studies, she has dived into the topic of repair in Estonian textiles. In her seminar paper, she researched the techniques of repair used to mend peasant trousers. In addition, she described the most common techniques for mending textiles according to literature from the beginning of the 20th century.

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Mending has been an essential part of textile care. However, mass production has pushed this once common skill into oblivion. Today, mending is coming back into peoples’ consciousness as a way to combat fast fashion. Mending gives you the opportunity to problem solving while unleashing your creativity.

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This course gives you the practical tools to mend woven and knitted textiles. As part of the course, you will get acquainted with the traditional repair techniques that were used by the peasants. In addition, you will get an overview of the most common patching techniques from the beginning of the 20th century. During the course, three pocket-shaped work samples are prepared: traditional patching, filled in patch and a covering patch. We will also practice Swiss darning and regular darning.

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The participation fee includes fabrics for samples as well as needles and threads. You can also bring along a textile item that needs some mending. Participants can bring their own fabric scraps to use for patching. The course is suitable for beginners.