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Pamela McBride, at right, and Nancy Little, both information services assistants at the Greenfield Public Library, have helped start a monthly mending clinic in the library’s Makerspace. It is held from 2 to 4 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month. -
The Greenfield Public Library held its first mending clinic in the Makerspace on Tuesday, complete with books on the subject of fixing clothes. -
Marianne Snow, center, volunteers to run a mending clinic at the Greenfield Public Library Makerspace. Snow helps Greenfield resident Xylor Jane, at left, at the first clinic on Tuesday, alongside Information Services Assistant Pamela McBride, at right. -
Marianne Snow, at right, helps Greenfield resident Xylor Jane mend clothes at the Greenfield Public Library Makerspace during the first mending clinic on Tuesday.
GREENFIELD — Arranging books and various sewing supplies, Marianne Snow waited for visitors to arrive at the Greenfield Public Library’s first drop-in mending clinic on Tuesday.
Snow, a volunteer with the Friends of the Greenfield Public Library, led the new event in the library’s Makerspace. The mending clinic offers free help fixing residents’ damaged clothing or accessories from 2 to 4 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month.
The idea for the program arose following a three-part pajama-making class held at the Makerspace in the fall.
“Afterward, we thought, ‘It’d be great to have a mending class,’” said Snow, who worked with Greenfield Public Library information services assistants Pamela McBride and Nancy Little to establish the new mending clinic.
When Little, who is an experienced crocheter, mender and has sewn her own garments in the past, heard about the clinic, she was excited, in part due to the event’s sustainability element.
“It helps with the environment,” said Little, who took the role of liaison to Snow, helping gather supplies when needed and offering help with the library’s sewing machine. “You’re not just tossing old clothes into a landfill.”
Another point of interest for Little was the teaching of visible mending, a trendy style of clothing repair that creates unique designs in a garment where there were once holes.
“It can make your clothes more personal,” Little said, though she said the practice is not necessarily her style.
The mending clinic’s first visitor, Xylor Jane, visual artist and Greenfield resident, came in with a bag of garments in need of repairs: two torn Hawaiian shirts, a fleece jacket with a broken zipper and a leather bag with a broken strap.
After some discussion, Snow and Jane decided that the Hawaiian shirts would be the afternoon’s priority, and Snow got to work on the sewing machine to fix rips in the two shirts.
“I do a lot of mending at home, so this is a relief,” Jane said, watching Snow create a zig-zag design in her floral silk shirt. “It looks great,” Jane added enthusiastically upon seeing the finished product, which was fortified by an iron-on patch beneath the new stitching.
Greenfield resident Kacy Westwood, herself an experienced mender, watched as Jane and Snow worked together and flipped through the selection of the library’s new books on mending, purchased in advance of the new monthly clinic.
Snow, Little, McBride and Westwood also spent Tuesday discussing ways to improve the clinic in the future, including offering themed clinics — a day dedicated to darning socks, for example — and a way for attendees to notify organizers beforehand about what they want to work on, to allow for Snow and the team to be more prepared.
“It’s community engagement,” McBride said, “and it’s a work in progress. We will adapt the program as the community needs.”
For more information on the mending clinic, visit greenfieldpubliclibrary.org.