Sewing Rebellion: Motifs, Migrations and Misappropriations

This is a past event.

Saturday, October 5,  11am–2pm
Presented by Frau Fiber
Max Attendance: 12
$10 Regular / $8 Members

Member price accessed with discount code at checkout. Are you a member and don’t know your code? Email [email protected]! Not a member but interested in these perks? Join here!

fast fashion- n, inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends

knock off – n, a copy or imitation, especially of an expensive or designer product

Stop shopping, start sewing! 

In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to cut and sew a coat using t-shirts, a “natural resource” and a symbol of the consumer culture of late western capitalism. The Sewing Rebellion will present a glimpse of Syrian garment history, the fast fashion supply chain, and instructions for making a knock-off of a Syrian child’s coat, a garment held in the collection of the Textile Museum in Washington DC.  

This production supports the Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers & Uniforms (ILGWU) campaign to make fast fashion’s appropriation of silhouettes and motifs more transparent, through the MOTIFS, MIGRATIONS AND MISAPPROPRIATIONS campaign. This campaign reveals the exploitation and appropriation of cultural motifs by fast fashion: While cheap disposable garments travel the world, inhabitants of the countries where the motifs originate (like Syria) are banned and unwelcome to cross borders as they flee violence.  

This garment is one in a series of collaborations between museums and the Sewing Rebellion. The Sewing Rebellion is invited to choose a garment from a museum collection to put into production scheme.  Garments are chosen based on the complexity of the garment production, and the garment’s ability to represent and draw attention to contemporary injustice. 

Participants should provide (if you have):
Sewing Machine
Fabric Scissors
2 t-shirts
Ruler

Frau Fiber (Apolda Germany, B. 1966) is a textile super hero crafting spirited durational performances, using pedagogical, material and playful approaches to teach communities about the human cost of mass production and consumption. Many of these events take place at Frau Fiber’s store-front headquarters in downtown Long Beach, CA, the Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers & Uniforms (ILGWU). Her legacy project is the Sewing Rebellion, a national campaign to “STOP SHOPPING AND START SEWING!” The Rebellion empowers through skill-sharing, facilitates community building, and advocates for social change. The Rebellion connects participants to the history of “thrift and reuse circles” and “quilting bees”, organizing people to come together to share resources, talk politics, and promote change in the fashion and textile industry. Sewing Rebellions have been hosted in Chicago, New York City, New Orleans, Denver, Sheboygan WI, Ames Iowa, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Long Beach CA, Asheville NC, Portland ME, Portland OR, London UK, and Weimar Germany.

Accessibility information for this event: WCCW has a 36” wide ramp at our front entrance and a stairway with 8 steps and a rail. There are 2 gender neutral restrooms. One restroom is wheelchair accessible, with a handrail. We provide scent free soaps and encourage guests to attend our events scent free. If you require ASL interpretation, CART, interpretation for a language other than English, supervised childcare, or have any other access needs or questions, please contact [email protected] at least two weeks in advance. It is our practice to do everything we can to create a safe and accessible space.

Childcare for this event: We do our best to provide low-cost, on-site childcare for our events when requested at least a week in advance. If you are interested in childcare for this event, please fill out this form.

*All members get 20% off paid programming. A limited number of free spots are also available for Warrior & Goddess level members. Email [email protected] to inquire about free tickets.

Our program costs go directly towards compensation of the instructors and staffers who work the event. We want to make programming as accessible as possible to anyone who is interested, however, so we offer volunteer opportunities in exchange for membership, as well as free community tickets to each program (number varies depending on capacity of the class). Email [email protected] for more info or to find out more about these opportunities for a specific event.