Spring Clothing Swap March 14 wraps- Summer of Care, Share and Repair 2026 begins

We are actively looking to collaborate with community groups by bringing textile repair and upcycling to your events, and this swap was the launch of our  "Summer of Care, Share and Repair 2026". ​This project is supported by the City of Toronto through Live Green Toronto and the Neighbourhood Climate Action Grants program. This is a longish post, we tried a lot of things and built on our past so we solicited input from the leaders on the floor who ran different sections, and all our thoughts are below.

Another Spring Clothing Swap with our community partners Glebe Road United wrapped up on Saturday, an amazing group of volunteers and makers from our collective and community got it set up fast and looking good.  There are many people running swaps now across the city, and we think we can help each other connect and share the joy.  We had many return participants, and new folks as well- 108 in total!  We weighed ALL of the donations coming in, but not all the contributions from our stash and even then we had 328 kilos incoming, about 723 pounds, all redistributed or in our shed for future workshops or maker swaps. We were able to keep the swap completely FREE for all, supported by a grant (see below) we also put out a donation jar for people who wanted to contribute, very passive, and received $112.
From Tanya (project co-lead) "I was so grateful for all the help I got at every stage.  My co-leads connected me with some great repair team experts, and other members of the collective and the community joined in leadership roles and the repair advice team. The church team (our institutional partner) helped make signs, advertise and collect donations.  We had a small but powerful team who set up the bones of the room the day before, bringing in the makers swap donations, setting up tables, we were very ready by Friday end of day.  Everyone on the team really stepped up with ideas and muscle."

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."
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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 Vale: It was very organized, there was something for everyone to do, and everyone who came in the door as a was quickly sent where they needed to go. I had (and overheard) some wonderful conversations at the repair table.

Highlights

• The repair crew being able to take "customers" on a little journey to find fabric for their mending
• Finding the matching thread for a person's ripped camisole
• The person with the cashmere sweater who was so curious about the entire mending process
• Meeting a kiddo who had sewn themself a cape out of T-shirts
• The huge amount of traffic! 108 people, wow!
• How quickly we packed up everything as a team

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.