The idea of slöjd—using natural materials, simple tools, and your innate creativity to craft the things you need and use every day—applies just as much to cloth as it does to wood! In this course we'll build skills for sewing slöjd as you make a kit to hold your essential tools and a custom-fit leather thimble, all sewn by hand. Then you'll use your new abilities to practice mending and simple alterations on garments and household textiles. You'll learn about how fabric is woven (jeans, shirts, coats) or knitted (sweaters, socks, t-shirts) and how to stitch on both kinds of fabric. Tasha will answer your textile-related questions, and you'll leave ready to integrate sewing into your everyday life skills. Consumer culture encourages us to use things for a short while, then toss them and get a new one. Making and mending our own textiles can be a way to choose another path, a way of caring for people and our planet. As part of this course we’ll explore what it means to practice sewing and mending in the modern world, and how we can share these skills with our communities.