You will never regret acquiring practical skills says Linnae Hamilton. Working on your self-reliance is a great thing to be doing at this time of uncertainty, as well as taking care of yourself, simplifying your life and possessions.
After a wide-ranging career including as a film maker and graphic artist, Linnae brought all her skills together to set up the non-profit Remade in Brooklyn in an old carriage house in New York in the United States. She based it on the model of Remade in Edinburgh and outfitted the carriage house with big tables and secondhand sewing machines to teach people to sew at free weekly workshops called Mend it Monday, which expanded to Fix it Friday as well as a Wednesday session. “I wanted to teach people how to sew, because sewing is a great life skill to have. I love making things and once it gets under your skin, you can’t not do it. It’s a super power.”
But as coronavirus turned everyone’s lives upside down, Linnae had to make the sad decision to close the doors on carriage house and has moved upstate New York to a healthy area where she can work remotely. She is now working to serve the community by developing an online community as a resource for people interested in repair.
Linnae says that right now, the United States is enjoying a moment when mending is fashionable and people are thinking in new ways about clothes. She says mending is soothing, empowering and bonding.
“The upside of COVID is it forced us to slow down and gave many of us a lot of time to think. As I’ve gotten older, my dress habits have changed and I look forward to having holes in things because it gives me a chance to practice my mending skills. It is religious in a way, and a wonderful activity that gives so much back.”
I was due to meet Linnae in person during my Churchill Fellowship study tour earlier this year but until travel becomes possible, we chatted via Zoom instead.