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Fibre Space supports fashion interest

New gathering a place for stitching clothes and social conscience
fibre space
SOCIAL FABRIC: [From left] Doe Fraser, Heather Armstrong, Wendy Drummond, Hana-Louise Braun and Elaine Mackee gather at Fibre Space, a new maker space in Powell River. Dave Brindle photo

Another maker space is creating an intersection in Powell River, connecting ideas, ingenuity and ideology by making and mending things.

Fibre Space is now open at Oceanview Education Centre to support the growing interest in local fibre and fashion, according to coordinator Wendy Drummond. Potential continuing education workshops and courses in the future could go beyond what the space will offer, she said.

“The intent is not only for people who are doing, but for people who would like to be doing, including young people,” said Drummond. “Hopefully there is outreach to the school district.”

The space is a community initiative partnered by Vancouver Island University, Powell River, and School District 47.

“The partnership will hopefully provide new opportunities for our students to be exposed to fibre art, hands-on activities and unique learning experiences in the community, which embraces the new redesigned curriculum,” said school superintendent Jay Yule.

Maker spaces also include an element of activism, said Drummond.

“Fibre Space is all about people who have an interest in textile and fibre,” she said. “Today it might be about knitting, and earlier it was about spinning. Last week it was all about sewing, stitching, up-cycling and mending.”

Fibre Space is a social circle, she added, as well as a sewing circle, and is a response to “the true cost of the impact of our consumerism, or how we buy and use our clothing so everything is disposable.”

The idea grew out of The True Cost, a documentary first shown in Powell River in January. The film reveals the fast-fashion industry standards of bringing the latest fads, crazes and trends to market as cheaply and quickly as possible. Fibre Space resulted from people seeing the film and the discussions that followed, she added.

“We were hearing people say, ‘I will never shop the way I have again, but how do I do it differently?’” said Drummond about reactions to the film.

People also asked how they could keep their clothes lasting longer and where to learn how to sew, she said.

“That’s where fibre space came into being,” said Drummond.

According to people attending the weekly event, Fibre Space is more than sewing a button, it’s about the relationship with clothing.

“It’s so wide open that anybody can bring whatever they’re excited about and share it,” said attendee Elaine Mackee. “You bring in a project you don’t know what to do with and there will be 11 bright ideas for it. I brought in a dress that had 50 to 90 moth holes; Wendy suggested I felt it. Now there is one moth hole and it’s beautiful.”

Drummond said relationships with clothing and textiles has dramatically changed since a time when everything was hard to come by.

“If you had to weave that cloth you’re wearing you’ll probably have a much different relationship with your clothing than we do today.” she said. “We walk in, spend five bucks on a t-shirt, wear it, wash it once and decide we don’t like it anymore, so it gets thrown out or goes to the Salvation Army.”

Fibre Space participant Doe Fraser, raised on Vancouver Island in a large family, said she connects the practicality of what she is doing with the past.

“We used to all go out together, spring and fall, and bring our clothes; for me that was shopping,” said Fraser. “I had 45 family members and you all switched clothes around. This is reminiscent of of that. I was always knitting and stitching, whether it was embroidering or crocheting, and we were doing things that were traditional in my family.”