This year we added a mini makers space for kids to be engaged in art and up-cycling activities while their parents shopped the swap.  Here are some of their observations:

From Juli (ran the mini-makers area with Joanne)
"My kids were champs and helped for the entire event and even participated in the swap and crafts. They both sewed bags and showcased their creativity by designing some unique, true to themselves accessories. This initiative alligns with many of our values concerning giving back to your community, repurposing and eco friendly solutions to global problems.
I am grateful to all the wonderful humans who treated my children with kindness and taught them such valuable life skills- including showing them their presence was welcome by treating them with patience and respect. 
My children brought the energy home with them- as we have even found ourselves mending items and creating new pieces this week.
It is always lovely to see the community come together to share and care. I met several families who look forward to your swap year after year. It was inspiring to see them encourage their children to try new skills and model to them that their choices impact the world around them."
​
From Joanne (co-ran the mini-maker space with Juli) "As I engaged with the mini makers space with Juli, the set-up and activities available were appropriate for different age groups. There were about 10-12 young children who engaged in books, drawing and origami on one table. On the adjacent table we got the opportunity to work with 5 children/tweens to recycle old t-shirts into bags (and a cape) and they got so creative and inventive! For all of them, it was the first time they threaded a needle and sewed - hopefully igniting a new way of thinking and doing :) We also did some knotting techniques to create the bags which made it easier for younger ones. It also gave opportunity for parents/caregivers to ‘play and create’ with their young ones. One mum mentioned she would do this activity with her older child, who wasn’t able to be there that morning. The Care & Repair crew also helped with some sewing machine needs to attach accessories and close up seams - thank you! [One tween] once she knew how to make the bag, decided to visit the swap area - found a T-shirt she liked, returned to the makers space to modify the t-shirt into a bag , ‘shopped’ for some lace/ribbon at another station,  worked with MK to sew a section of the bag, and created an original piece from all the stations available to her! Resourceful - ‘shop and make’! 

Having this area was a great idea and definitely something to keep and expand. "

 This year we once again had a repair advice table.  Marnie offered to do "triage"... greet people seeking repair advice and match them up with an expert at the table, and it seemed to keep the team and participants happy.  We also has some inspired makers take advantage of the machines and help to do some one the spot making.. Here is some observances from the front lines:

MK offered these highlights:

- young volunteers shopped the makers swap to do repairs and embellish their projects. 
- machine sewing with the kiddos
- impromptu tulle skirt / fabric gathering demo
- the mushroom shirt / patch - Just Be Great!
- the thoroughness of categories and accepted textiles. As someone who always has lots of things to donate / rehome being able to do that with multiple categories of things in one trip to one location makes a swap event extra enticing. And in the case of the jacket mending it was super useful to have a donated hood.
- the amount of donations and participants! 
- a personal highlight is that I found a ton of great clothes that fit me and have helped me with the wardrobe update I've been needing so thank you! Also some excellent fabrics I'm going to turn into pants, and use in my sewing classes

Looking forward to doing more this year!

From Tanya (project co-lead) We felt supported start to finish this year.  I had previous participants reach out with ideas to make the swap more visible (higher signs on tables, and more visibility outside the venue) and with offers to volunteer with prep and design (see gorgeous signs by Siobhan in the makers swap.) Art makes it better.  We had volunteers take ownership in advance where there were specific needs from past events- getting lunch (Douglas) and tear down (Rob, Carly and Chris) and people proposing solutions (Juli, who offered to run a children's activity area that let parents shop... and kids get involved.)  Thanks to the great swap team taking ownership of the swap details, the Care+Repair team, the Mini-maker team and swap leaders, I was able to talk to participants and find some of their stories. There were people returning, people who had heard about it via friends and family, social media, via posters in the community (despite the rain) and because of our sandwich board on Yonge street during the events.  We gave people a place to bring their beloved unfinished projects, childhood clothes, retro jacket collection, knowing that they would find a new home. We supplied some sewists with material to make pyjamas for ALL their grandchildren, to make a new dog bed, people making repairs were able to "shop the swap" for patches and materials to achieve their match, or do some on the spot creating.  It was a really joyful event.  I am grateful that we had some funding and could buy lunch for all our fantastic volunteers and crew, and reimburse the swap leaders and experts for some of their time and expenses.  I am grateful to the returning volunteers and the new ones, everyone really gave their all to make this a success.

images (from left to right, top to bottom, more or less):  #WOCAR2024 poster for winter swap and needle felting repair workshop, plus images of workshop in action: Marnie demoing darning, a patch, poster for repair series in Hamilton
second row: wide of felting workshop with Allie leading, Shams and Leah in back, IG post from our host Mehtap from At Origin Coffee, fortune about friends, Ursa crocheted flower experiments
third row ish: Tanya and green cookbook author Puneeta Chittwal-Varma at CityTv appearance; WOCAR coiling workshop poster, Lora leading workshop
fourth row: participant learning machine sewing at pillow workshop; poster for pillow workshop; participant and Gabrie making pillows; bunting making poster
firth row; WiP team post workshop (Jennifer, Lora, Leah, Leslie, Ursa and Tanya)Shams giving land acknowledgement at the Heliconian Club, Leah and Tanya making bunting, bunting outside the club. 

December to February: Winter of Care and Repair 2024

We spent the winter hosting a series of neighbourhood repair and upcycling workshops, as part of a project called Winter of Care and Repair 2024 or #WOCAR2024 inspired by textile artist Jeanne Wigger aka @thepeoplesmending and supported by a Neighbourhood Climate Action Grant from the City of Toronto and LiveGreenTO.  The mandate was to bring repair and upcycling skills to our neighbourhood in midtown Toronto, so we hosted swaps and workshops in local coffee shops, libraries and churches, as well as ran a bunting workshop in Yorkville with the Heliconian Club (part of WiP artist Tanya Murdoch's residency in 2024-2025) the workshops were: December 2024 Needle felting/cozy repairs and winter swap, (lead by textile artist Allie Davies, with support from Leah, Tanya, Marnie and Shams ) then coiling and household linens swap (lead by Lora Bertolo at the Northern district library, with support from Ursa, Shams, Leah and Tanya) then pillow making and makers swap in February, lead by Leslie Solomonian with support from Marnie, Gabrie, Tanya and Leah.  ​

images (from left to right, top to bottom, more or less):   first row left images from the Heliconian Hall with bunting on display at Tanya's solo show; prepping cloth for flower pounding, then flower pounding/bunting making with Humber River pals (wide, MK at work
second row: bunting with artwork at Tanya's show, Ursa working on beadsed medallian for brother's grad; bunting tat Solstice party; Shams at machine with our host at Humber River.
Third Row: Tanya, Leona and Leah on retreat in Muskoka, natural dye experiemnt, Ursa earring, MK natural dye workshop ad, more flower pounding
fourth row: pollinator; work in progress from retreat (gelliprinting x 2 ) Leona and Leah outside at retreat, denim feather..

June to August: summer artmaking, life transitions, play and renewal

There was the usual travel/family/fun issues with scheduling, but we did come together for a workshop with the Humber River Pals in July and a retreat in August.  Last year we traveled to Vermont, but this year, with health concerns for some members we had a less ambitious outing in Ontario, but still met local artists and did art experiments with the three who came- as well as a lot of swimming.

The bunting from the February workshop was on full display at Tanya's solo show at the Heilconian Club as her Artist-in-Residency year came to a close, and is used as sustainable decorations for all art openings and other events at the club from now on.  There were also graduations from members and their kids, and bunting worthy parties at home.

Vojna images (from left to right, top to bottom, more or less):  Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre (ext), site of our collaboration with Repair Cafe; Leah and participant sewing T-shirt bag, natural dye experiments x2, t-shirt bag with applique
second row: participants making T-shirt bags, kids stuffing pillows; the Make + Mend Repair cafe team (Liz from repair cafe, Leah, Kiera, Talina, Ursa, Tanya, volunteer and Natalija (our climate action hero + collaborator; CN tower
Third row: Thorncliffe Park Urban Farmers harvest; Marina, local textile hero donating stash to WiP; second Make and Mend event at Glebe Rd church, part of their open house; Leah, Tanya, Leslie and Shams wearing Leah's T-shirt creations- go team! care and repair on our sign; rescued textiles from factory in Toronto
Fourth + Fifth  row: Leah workshop series at YWCA shelter (WiP a guest for 3 sessions): Leah with participant, happy sewers; then Ursa and Otis at the Make+Mend market (top) and reusable wrap (bottom) "Care + Rep[air" T-shirts;  then (from top to bottom far right) Tanya, Jiyoon and Leah at recycled holiday craft workshop; ext Moss Park Market, Jiyoon holding up decoration.  

September to December: playing together at Make +Mend workshops and markets

We were making connections and finding new pools to play in this past fall​.  We were approached back at one of the winter workshops to support a grant applicant for a Make and Mend event; Natalija Voljno (Our Future First ) applied for a Climate Action Champions Grant from the City of Toronto and Live green TO to support a collaboration with the Repair Cafe at the Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre in September (our sponsors for the NCAG)  We made T-shirts and assisted in repairs while the Repair cafe volunteers offered repair advice for textiles, bikes and small appliance repair.  We also brought in a lot of pillows and scraps for participants to stuff and bring home, rehousing weird textiles.  We hope to repeat this partnership in the Spring!

We also connected with some other local neighbourhood eco heroes and makers, including Thorncliffe Park Urban Farmers and a local maker, Mariana, who gave us her stash when she moved.  We have used the fabric for many events over the fall, including sewing workshops run by MK with the City, a series of workshops with a YWCA shelter lead by WiP artist Leah, and a holiday craft workshop with Moss Park Market in December.  Works-in-Progress had a presence at TWO fall events at Glebe Road as well: a Make and Mend AND Market, where Leah made T-shirts, and a maker's market in December. 

Works-in-Progress member Shams el-Din Rogers joined the Textile of Museum of Canada board and in October, she was announced as the new Chair of the board as the museum reopened; she is still a collective member but will join us strictly as a volunteer to avoid conflicts.

We are applying for more grants to support projects in 2026, with some of these artists, friends and community partners we have worked with this year.

On the Eve of Norwegian Constitution Day (May 17, 2025) I have a discussion with textile artist Shams el-Din Rogers about making Festdrakt as a non-Norwegian Norvegophile (aka Norway-phile or lover of all things Norwegian.) Covers ideas around appropriation, who owns culture, how to appreciate what you love while respecting cultural identity.

We are excited for this project- applied for a grant to do a community building, winter gathering repair club over the winter, inspired by Jeanna Wigger and her online mending challenge #winterofcareandrepair, launched during the pandemic, to encourage habits of mending and care for our things, each other and ourselves.  It feels like we need more of that.

And as usual, we make a positive from a lack... we always need to find community partners and this time we have connected with another neighbourhood artist friend, Mehtap Mertogan, to use their coffee shop in the neighbourhood for our first gathering.  Mehtap runs mosaic workshops here as well during the winter, it is cozy and public facing, should be perfect.  It's a small space so we are trying to keep it simple with hand repairs the main focus, but also adding in a winter clothing swap as it is finally cooling off in these parts and we could do with some redistribution of jackets and woolies.

I am off to print the poster, we'll let you know how it goes. --Tanya

During the pandemic, we were not able to do in person workshops, so material we had collected stayed in basements and sheds.  We do keep a little for makers projects and swap starters but really, the best place for textiles in in use, on backs or beds or making new things for ourselves or friends. We are committed to NOT throwing anything out so small scraps we use for stuffing art-making etc. but we are activly looking for opportunities to reduce our stash of textiles.  Textile waste can easily become overwhelming so we always make sure it is going where it wanted/need/will be used ASAP.  Here's a few places the swap remains went:
- Double Take (gently used SEASONAL clothes PLUS material for their upcycling studio)
-Material Return (they collected socks from individual donors to recycle on an industrial scale, during earth month, as part of the second Cut project)
- costumes went to a local high school drama department
-Jessie's place (runs programs for mothers and infants... takes donations by appointment only)
-artists in the collective to make crafts, cloths and use in workshops
-teachers for use in sewing/fashion after school clubs
- yarn and tools to redistribute through Marnie's little free art library

images (from left to right, top to bottom, more or less):  gifts for the neighbourhood via LITTLE FREE LIBRARY, Spring CLOTHIG SWAP images: poster and site, set up volunteers selfies, Leah and Leona sorting clothes.
second row: (still at swap) Leslie modelling a purse, Shams teaching repair during power outage, Nancy drafting a pattern.
third row: long line of swap volunteers mid clean up R
fourth row: Some individual work of our members: WiP member and textile activist Shams el Din rogers as a guest on Check your Thread podcast.  She's also been on Stitch Please and probably more.  A couple of winter repairs from Tanya, Leah working on The Gathering, a show she co-curated at the Textile Museum of Canada. Our new shed outside the church and the key. 

January to March: clothing swap and winter solo projects

We partnered with Glebe Road United Church at their request, to co-host a clothing swap while their tenant school was on a 2 week break.  We had done something similar in 2019 and had worked with the church since the Reverend Cynthia had returned in our last neighbour-to-neighbour swap.  This was our first return to indoor one site swapping and it was fantastic.  Great turnout despite the rain (and a power outage) we had visiting artists doing demos, members leading repair and upcycling workshops, a makers swap on the side... it was super fun. 

Otherwise the winter was mostly individuals working on their own projects to try to make the world a little more sustainable. 

images (from left to right, top to bottom, more or less): spring blossoms, poster for eco market, Tanya and Alex at the Edgar Allen gardens Eco Market for Earth Day, Alex wares for sale, poster for Ringing in Spring Community Fair in Davisville's June Rowlands Park
Second row: lavender sachets and Book sale from Earth Week events at Davisville PS (sign materials and swap supported by WIP), WIP workshop poster and book at Ringing in Spring Event May 6
third row:  Leah pounding flowers, poster for HRP, flowers, bunting picture over picture of Leah , Tanya and Marnie (plus Astrid) community drop in flower pounding table at Ringing in Spring
fourth row: Iki from Humber River Pals holding up finished bunting, a couple photos of making bunting at Humber River, a coiling project (learned from Lora) some pride earrings made by Ursa and Safiya, Alex at Hogstown Market (poster and pride patches)  plus Gabrie sewing bunting. 

April to June: we say YES a lot

We are invited to take part in an Earth Day Eco market at the Botanical Gardens in Toronto, to support a swap at a school, to host an activity and run a booth at a community fair in Davisville, run a drop in workshop for busy volunteers in Humber River and help some guides sew T-shirt bags for a badge (not shown) Some of our members are exploring more making opportunities, like Alex who is busy vending at craft and thrift pop ups across the GTHA.

mages (from left to right, top to bottom, more or less):   first and second row left side 5 images from a Work party! a small gathering with a mission- logo removal on a pile of donated clothes from a private school.  altertered clothes on a clothesline, button repair, shams at her machine, Marlene holding up a patched cardigan, instagram post about where it all goes.
First and second row, right side: Tanya recording a puppet parade with Musical story Studio (side art, still environmental) then 3 images and a poster from the DT Resale market. Tanya and Leah at the WIP booth, Leah with Sharon and customer, patches for sale
third row:  Fort York workshops: sign with goods, Fort York wide shot, Alex and young maker below, Lora and Sandra mending outside FY schoolroom, Alex sewing with Amy and Delphine. then 4th row Jennifer with visible repair, group outside the schoolroom, Lora and Gabrie
Third, fourth and fifth row (right side group): Tanya and Ursa dying overalls for welcome week volunteers, overalls in vat, Marnie and Ursa dying overalls, instagram post from @Macindigenousss, some of the finished overalls with embellishments. 

July and August

Like last year, we decided not to initiate anything during the summer, but just see what came along... and a lot came along. We met in Tanya's backyard for a work party mid week in June and did some logo removal with new sewists (WIP member Shams saying YES to donated textiles to keep them out of landfill.) We said YES to running a table at a Double take experiment (their FIRST Community Resale Market) and we said YES to hosting workshops at Fort York city museum(now free to the public)

At the end of the summer we gathered in Marnie's backyard to do an epic dying session. Tanya's daughter Ursa was co-planning Welcome Week at her university and tapped Marnie to share her textile knowledge and WIP to help dye a dozen cotton/poly blend overalls... no easy feat, but they looked gorgeous.

images (from left to right, top to bottom, more or less):  Donated vintage sewing machine, Repair Fair poster repair table with Tanya, Leah and BR ringer, Tanya and Susan at Climate Commons (we donated bunting but not shown here), a jack-o-lantern
Second row: Leslie modelling her scrappy overalls, Cassie and Tanya with stuffing from Cassie's couch ( a donation to WIP) Leah sewing at the BR repair table, poster for Eco march, Little Free Art Library in Marnie's front yard.
third row: (after Leslie) poster for Country Clothesline (workshop lead by Nancy), donated twine passed onto artist Lora for a workshop, Coiled bowl in progress, free shelves and donated shed space, found chair recovery project
fourth row: Tanya filling in as facilitator at BR "Do-it-together" workshop at Moss PArk Market, participants holding up sachet, poster for coiling workshop, "Winter of care and rEpair" post, Shams posting a dailing repair
fifth row: Moss Parlk Market with new space. participants making sachets, co-leader holding up sachet, Shams post about darning, Homemade tree decorations from scrap textiles 

September to December: facilitating donations, making connections and stepping up

We had hoped to do another Back-to-School Swap but we lacked community support and dealt with another round of Covid.  But again, we said YES a lot, we gave support to artist projects (for example, loaned bunting to climate commons, shared information about workshops and shows online), and tried to find homes for unwanted textiles and tools via donating, collecting and redistributing, sharing online and in person.  For example, a neighbourhood friend donated  a curbed vintage sewing machine (it still needs a home) another dismantled her couch and donated the stuffing (which is becoming futons, yoga mats, stuffies in the hands of various makers.)  and another artist made good use of some donated twine for a coiling workshop.

We had a couple of opportunities to play with our friends at Building Roots - Leah and Tanya hemmed a lot of pants at a Repair Table (run during Market hours, Saturday 11-3) and also covered a workshop for Kate Hamilton, part of her Do it Together series for beginner makers. Love that Moss Park community.  Individual artists in (or friends of) the collective did some vending, ran workshops, made things from scraps and found objects, and shared repair stories (Shams was inspired by the online challenge issued by US Textile activist Jeanne Wigger: #winterofcareandrepair2023 challenge online (still ongoing until the vernal equinox in March 2024) 

LATER in JULY we were invited to be a vendor at the first annual (?) Community Resale Market hosted by community partner Double Take Thrift store at 310 Gerrard street East. Leah and I were free so we took a half day slot and survived a rainy start, sold some work from artists in the collective, met lots of cool visitors and other vendors.  The store has a newly revamped upcycling studio as well, where they host mending Mondays and upcycling workshops and sell damaged goods and donated materials and tools to wannabe makers.

TWICE this summer we hosted drop in repair workshops and conversations around upcycling and repair in an old schoolroom at Fort York in Toronto.  This was a cool invite we couldn't turn down, from a former programmer at the Textile Museum.   

On July 31 Lora, Sandra, Gabrie and Tanya ran the first workshop... with Marlene dropping by to help wrap up. We had people bring in clothes for repair advice from Gabrie (you can see some of her design work HERE), Sandra (visual artist, actor animator, more HERE) and Lora did some outdoor mending to entice visitors and Lora lead us all in a coiling workshop  (you can see more of her work HERE) While we're connecting, you can see Tanya's work HERE.

On August 14th Tanya returned with a new crew of artists and makers: Amy, Delphine, Alex and Jennifer to share skills.  Alex Verkade was our ringer this time, she took a weekend off from vending her up-cycled wares to share her quilting and patching skills.  Check out her work HERE. We shared the Fort with Jully Black and friends leading aerobics in the field, pretty cool company.

At the end of AUGUST we worked with Mac Indigenous student services to prep overalls for volunteer student hosts for MacMaster Welcome week.  Ursa and Tanya worked with Marnie Saskin over 2 days to dye these poly/cotton blend suits.  These were no natural dyes, we used hot hot water in two pots, on rotation a half hour at a time, with extra powerful fabric dye.  Like a coven of witches, with naps in between, they looked fabulous, and even better once they were individualized with patches and paint by the students.

Earth Day (April 22) We have partnered with local food focused community group Appletree Markets many times over the years, and this Spring we participated in two events they hosted. Alex Verkade and Tanya Murdoch humanned a booth  at the Eco Market at the Toronto Botanical Gardens for Earth Day (Saturday April 22, 10-4.)  Alex is very productive with her own studio (now TerryZeeStudio) and she has been making upcycled patches, pouches and hearts from vintage quilts and other materials, so half the table was Alex goods, the other was information about Works-in-Progress and a few items made from other artists in the collective.  We talked upcycling and visited plenty of awesome folks, including a butterfly fan in costume.​

Images (from left to right, top to bottom, more or less):  Dropping off goods at Double Take thrift store (310 Gerrard St. E., Toronto) during our residency, DoubleTake upcycling sweaters workshop, a still from the online workshop and WIP items on display in the window of Double Take. Second row: Workshop ad for Scraps Challenge at the Textile Museum; DT Spring residency announcement, Textile artist Alex Verkade delivering work to the residency via Tanya;  Nancy Rawlinson's "Chickens of encouragement" for sale on the DT website,
third row:  Repaired Right pamphlet from artist Jeanna Wigger, online fabric giveaway from Marnie Saskin, Marnie hosting online part of hybrid "Cutlery Wrap" workshop and the Do-it-Together invite for our Cutlery Wrap hybrid workshop,  
fourth row: Banners at a climate action, then images from the in person part of the DiT workshop: participant with Alex and Leah, hands ironing, Kate Hamilton with Leah and Tanya outside the venue.

January to March: workshop and residencies while isolated

The year began with another wave of Covid causing lockdowns and shutdowns into January.  We began our Double Take Thrift store artist residency at the end of 2021 and were very happy to be joined by more artists as the residency continued into March. Textile artist (Alex Verkade) joined us in the residency with her upcycled quilt pouches, and then  applied to be artist in residence as a solo artist in in the Spring.  We lead two successful workshops in January - an upcycling one (deconstructing a sweater) as part of our DT residency and the other a really fun "scraps challenge" online teach-in with the Textile Museum of Canada.  

We also sought more ways to connect with makers and community partners: we connected with U.S. based textile artist and repair activist Jeanna Wigger to bring her wonderful "Repaired Right" booklet across the border.  WiP artist Marnie Saskin used a fabric giveaway online as a way to demonstrate our philosophy of "there is enough" and kept their front yard "little art library" stocked with donations from neighbours in Hamilton.  We loaned our bunting stash to support climate activists in Toronto, and WiP artist Tanya Murdoch used her video skills to document and share the event.

And we continued to roll with circumstances in the world, and as venues opened up to in person workshops we wanted to keep the benefits of online learning so when Kate Hamilton from Building Roots asked us to join her Do it Together series we did it with facilitators in person and online, with connections at the beginning and the end of the workshop.  It was lightly attended but really rewarding and a model for workshops going forward.

Images (from left to right, top to bottom, more or less): Appletree's Ringing in the Spring post and images from the event in June Rowlands park and the neighbourhood swap, including Nancy at the Repair+reuse advice table, Mehtap Mertdogan with Tanya our Spring swap poster designed by Lara Boadway; second row: Marnie at hand cranked sewing machine, Heather and Margaret at their swap station, mosaics created at the event with Mehtap, Leah with flowers from Periwinke and Shams modelling her #mesew overalls plus (third row) wide look at event with bunting and kids doing activity in front of the garden sign we made in 2019.
fourth row: Leah drawings and Safiya/Tanya video in the Textile museum; images from our work party including Marnie Alex and Leah going through shams' fabric stash; Tanya holding up finished bunting and (below) Shams and Alex sewing at work party, bunting in process and then (ends of row 4 and 5) bunting loaned to local fun fun fair, collaboration of Safiya's wool knit into mittens by Nancy (and regifted to Safiya) plus Alex textile art in Niagara gallery (inclduing some fabric from work party) and Music for Climate Justice musician Cassie Norton playing violin.

April-June: in person play 

We were really excited to time our Spring Swap to coincide with a new event started by our community partner Appletree Markets they called Ringing in the Spring, with eco/educational booths, crafts, music and food.  We collaborated with local mosaic artist  Mehtap Mertdogan  to create mosaics with families in the park, we had a repair advice table with Marnie Saskin, Nancy Rawlinson and a textile activist and artist new to us, Shams el-Din Rogers- we brought upcycling samples and handcrank machines.  We also had our neighbour-to-neighbour swap with ALL sizes at various yards around the park, and a team of teen volunteers to help support the hosts. It was exhausting but really satisfying. And being together in person built stronger bonds: Nancy and Safiya got to know each other, and Nancy took some of Safiya's hand spun yarn and knit her a beautiful set of mittens. Leah and Tanya took Shams' aunts purses, and the drama department got a new fur coat.

The event was all hands on deck, and with Tanya still exhausted post Covid, we decided to cancel the Hamilton version of the swap and just store/donate remains until the fall.  we also filed the final report for our OAC grant, which had supported many educational/artistic events as a collective over the past year and a half.

We felt more comfortable meeting in person as the weather warmed up, and sought new ways of skill sharing- the "work party" was born, and the first was hosted by our new friend Shams.  We did prep for swaps, especially bunting, using Shams' die cut tools.  Our other new friend Alex was able to come help sew and also collect some fabric for an installation she was doing in Niagara, and between that, the bunting, Leah, the Textile Museum, Marnie, Tanya and Shams' school we found new homes for all of the fabric Shams didn't need.

We also loaned out the bunting again, to another community partner, for a fun fair at our local elementary school in Midtown Toronto, the first in two years, and built connections with the climate activist musicians we met in March by lending video support to a grant application: we hope to work together in the future.
​

Images left to right, top to bottom, more or less: back to school swap events: pustering, adult clothes at midtown swap; Anne and Clara at their swap site, Tanya with husband Douglas Sanderson and Trinity-St. Paul's city councilor Josh Matlow
second row, more midtown swap: Shams demonstrating repair techniques +close up, WiP thsirt bags at both church sites
third row: swap at Moss park event: Leah setting up, swap sign by Lara Boadway; bagfs at Moss park, volunteer at kids table over Mac from Building Roots holding key, happy swap shopper holding full bag
fourth row: wide of Moss park swap, Amy holding key to her shed; dying experiment from late fall and Ursa and Safiya at AGB last week of group show.

September-December 2022: Back-to-school swaps and lessons learned

Our fall energies were directed to our annual back-to-school swap season, and it was a good one.  With Marnie's daughter (another WiP member) starting at OCAD she opted out of hosting a Hamilton swap, but we found the two Toronto swaps worked well together, and frankly, it was a nice Fall so two weekends seemed enough.

We had new community partners and volunteers reach out to be part of the swap, so we included adult clothes again in a big site at one end of the swap area, and a smaller site for baby clothes at the other, with local schools, councilors and trustees spreading the word.  Great weather, great turnout, for both the Midtown swap and , a week later, at the Moss Park Market with our community partners Building Roots.  Full swap wrap in an earlier blog post HERE. 

We are grateful to have the trust and support of friends between swaps as well: Mac from Building Roots and neighbourhood friend Amy both lend us storage and trust us with their keys as well move mountains of clothing around between swaps and after.

Again, this was a big endeavor so we took a little break as Fall 2022 came on gangbusters for all members, including new rounds of respiratory infections and Covid running through schools and families in the collective.  We continued art-making/ community building experiments on our own: dying with leaves, giveaways and other art making and at the end of December paid a final visit to the group show in Burlington.  Looking forward to 2023.