Do you want to fix that ripped pair of jeans, or mend that over loved sweater, but not sure how? By popular demand, the Hamline Fashion Club is offering monthly sewing lessons run by the current president and the creator of the organization, Senior Alisha Bowen.

During the first sewing lesson on Sept. 22, Alisha focused on teaching basic stitches. The group then had the opportunity to show off their newly learned skills by creating small, felt pillows with the free sewing kits that were provided at the event.

“It was a nice opportunity to refresh old skills,” one attendee Sophomore Sophie Donahue said. “I was glad to learn the purpose behind different stitching methods instead of knowing them without context.”

Whether it be for the purpose of do-it-yourself projects or mending clothing, the Hamline Fashion Club strives to be a resource for students to pick up a new skill. The Fashion Club even provides all materials needed for the lesson.

“I really hope that Hamline students get those basic sewing skills. I think that it is super essential,” Alisha said. “Also, a lot of times college students are trying to be cost effective and keep their clothing as long as possible. I want to teach them ways to be able to fix it themselves. You can use this skill throughout your entire life.”

Each sewing lesson will be focused around learning and applying the skills.

“We’ll cover a lot of different things in each session. Obviously we’ll go back to the basics and practice basic stitching, but we’ll do different projects each lesson,” Alisha said.

The sewing lessons will be offered throughout the entire 2018-2019 school year. Beginning in the spring semester the Hamline Fashion Club will be bringing in Mobile Menders to conduct the lessons for students.

Mobile Menders is a volunteer based group that is dedicated to providing mending services to people for free throughout the Twin Cities. The organization is unable to come to Hamline this fall semester due to their booked schedule.

For the students that do not have the time or resources to fix their own clothing, the Hamline Fashion Club will begin offering a clothing repair service in October.

“Any student can go to the student activities office and drop off their clothing to be repaired for only one to five dollars,” Alisha said.

Next month’s sewing lessons will focus on sewing buttons. The session will take place on Oct. 20 from 1p.m. to 2 p.m. in GLC classroom 106W.