Students in Focus
UC Repair Café: Stranger Things Edition
Since she started the UC Repair Café late last year, Monica Andrew has been (happily) up to her elbows in darning, patching and altering every week.
From rescuing much-loved and worn-through jackets to turning vintage store finds into custom-fitted fashion, Monica has been slowly spreading the gospel of resilience, rescuing and – rather than adding to landfill already bowing under the weight of throwaway consumer culture.
The UC Repair Café unfurled from Monica’s PhD research at the University of Canberra, where she has spun a lifelong fascination with fabric into an academic investigation of textile sustainability – and a grounded mission to equip more people with practical sewing skills.
“I think the battle sometimes is just knowing that something can be repaired, and how and where to start,” Monica said. “And there’s a joy in doing things ourselves.”
It’s a message people are obviously taking to heart … even more than she originally thought they would.
The mending tree has branched out a bit, and in between the dresses, jeans and jackets, it has sprouted a couple of unexpected items.
“The most unusual thing I was asked to repair? It’s got to be the elbow brace,” said Monica. It was brought in by a gentleman who gotten onto a skateboard for the first time in 15 years … and had his first fall from a skateboard in 15 years!
The stitching holding the brace’s gel pack was coming out.
“It was a bit of a complicated repair, so I had to think about how to approach it,” she said. “Then I figured out that I had to work on it from the inside out, and managed to repair it perfectly.”
Then there was the hogu, brought in by a martial arts practitioner. This is the chest protector that taekwondo practitioners wear while sparring, and the strap loops had worn through.
“This was a case of sewing the loop shut so that it could be used,” she said. “Although I have to say, I didn’t know what it even was till he explained!”
Monica has also repaired her fair share of reusable shopping bags, using a smaller stitch so that the repair strengthens the bag even as it mends it.
“Those shopping bags are often shoddily made and fall apart quite easily,” she said. “On the plus side, they’re easy to repair.”
“Someone else brought his wetsuit in to have the zip repaired, but I didn’t have the kind he required, so he’s supposed to come back.”
Monica also finds that her creative muscles are getting quite a work-out thanks to the UC Repair Café, with some problems requiring more inventive solutions than simple darning.
“There was this floral dress that someone brought in – very pretty except for the large scorch mark on the front, where it had been burnt with an iron,” Monica said. The fix for that was to put in large box pleats, which pleated over neatly to hide the mark completely.
Not all repairs need to be hidden though. “I like the Japanese concept of boro, which refers to textiles which have been mended or patched together,” Monica said.
These kinds of repairs are visible, and lend another visual and textural dimension to the mend – such as the blue embroidery butterfly which covers a hole in a pastel tie-dye t-shirt, one of the first repairs Monica oversaw at the UC Repair Café.
“Sometimes people come into the Repair Café with basic sewing skills, but no idea of how to approach the problem, and we find the solution together,” Monica said.
“Problem-solving is a huge part of mending.”
She’s looking forward to further expanding the understanding of things that can be repaired.
And she’s still waiting for that man with the wetsuit.
Words by Suzanne Lazaroo, photos by John Masiello