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Kansas Citians slow down in an age where fast fashion produces thousands of pounds of textiles waste per year. They are embracing classic techniques: making and fixing.

The Historic Garment District Museum is a part of the Kansas City Museum. It claims that Kansas City was home to one of America’s largest garment districts a hundred years ago. This museum, located at 801 Broadway Boulevard in Kansas City, is open from Thursdays to Saturdays or on request until the end of May.

Kansas City’s Garment District is designated as the area between 6th and 11th Streets from Washington to Wyandotte. Nelly Don, for example, not only provided clothing to people across the country but also created jobs for many women during an era where there was little else available.

Sewing is not just practical — although it sure is nice to stitch up a tear or sew on a button. It’s also a way to pass on traditions and make new ones, connect with previous generations and build friendships, and create a more sustainable and beautiful future.

Even if your high school did not offer Home Economics (does the school still teach sewing?There are many opportunities for you to learn the art of needlecraft and gain confidence.

This week, we’ve got your stitchery questions all sewed up.

Kansas City has plenty of places to go if you are interested in hand- or machine-sewing — as a hobby or even a potential career.

Sewing Labs is located at the Don Bosco Community Center, Columbus Park. It’s a nonprofit, women-run organization focused on community and workforce development. There are a number of courses and training programs, along with machine rentals.

Rightfully Sewn provides public classes and seamstress training with the intent to revive Kansas City’s historic garment manufacturing culture. The classes range from scrunchies for beginners to courses on fashion designer development.

Through their Common Threads Program, the Sewing Studio of the North Kansas City Public Library hosts classes throughout the month for both beginners and more advanced sewers. The last Thursday of every month, a knitting or crocheting circle is held.

MakerSpace is located at Johnson County Library. It has sewing machines and sergers that can be reserved (for up to 4 hours per week), tutorials on how to use the machines and staff who are available to assist with any problems.

The American Sewing Guild has a Kansas City chapter. The group holds regular meetings in Overland Park and Independence as well as the Northland neighborhood.

How to prolong the life of clothes and make them look more attractive. Although ripped denim jeans might be the latest trend, fashions tend to change over time. Fixing, tailoring and repurposing clothing can be a powerful step to becoming sustainable fashionable.

Scraps KC in Midtown is a craft recycling nonprofit center that accepts all kinds of donated supplies. This includes remnants fabrics, ribbons, and threads.

The organization also offers classes such as Visible Mending which is always sold out and monthly site tours to share its mission. The organization is included in the first episode of “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning,” filmed in Kansas City.

The Fabric Recycles store in Overland Park, which opened in 2010, is an excellent resource for those who want to donate their leftover sewing and crafting supplies or buy donated materials.

Source thrift shops to reduce waste. Jared Mitchel Armstrong from Yvonne and Mitchel, a local designer, creates new clothing using second-hand clothes.

Hadley Clark, a designer in Beacon Hill who creates patchwork clothing from high-quality materials, also opened a school for sewing. In 2017, she shared with KCUR her experience as a designer and teacher.

Scrap fabric is a great way to experiment with different sewing techniques and share your love of creation with the children. They can make doll clothes, their own toys or even create something new.

Libby Hanssen

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KCUR 89.3

The fiber arts are not just about mending or high fashion. They can also be beautiful.

Homemaking women used to have to learn how quilting was done in order for them not spend too much money. The intricate quilts that they created were often passed on as family heirlooms. Art forms like quilting are gaining popularity today. Kansas City Quilt Museum will open its doors in Kansas City in the fall of 2024.

Can’t wait that long to get your stitch fix? About 70 miles northeast of KC is Hamilton, Missouri, AKA “Quilt Town, USA,” home of the Missouri Star Quilt Company and the Missouri Quilt Museum. In 2015, KCUR’s Frank Morris reported on how quilting revitalized the town.

One of the region’s best-known fiber artists is NedRa Bonds, an artist, educator and advocate born in the Quindaro neighborhood, who uses quilting to share history and promote social justice.

Her work has been shown locally at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Spencer Museum, American Jazz Museum and Charlotte Street Foundation, among others, garnered national and international attention, and is part of public and private collections, including the Kansas City Chiefs’ Arrowhead Art Collection. KCUR’s C.J. Janovy reported on Bonds’ life, work and philosophy in 2017.

Currently, selections of Bonds’ work are on display in the Guldner Gallery at the Kansas City Public Library Central Library through May 20. The exhibit “This Is Who We Are” also includes work by Bonds’ granddaughter Ashlynn Bonds, continuing the generational thread of these traditions.

Another popular fiber art is weaving. To see these beautiful pieces, visit the National Silk Art Museum located in Weston Missouri. The Weavers Guild of Kansas City hosts field trips, monthly meetings and mentoring programs, in addition to a library.

In 2021, KCUR’s Julie Denesha spoke with artist Debbie Barrett-Jones about the healing benefits of weaving. Barrett-Jones graduated from the Kansas City Arts Institute with a major in fiber. Nick Cave and Whitney Manning (whose work recently debuted on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars) are also alumni. See the work of the emerging artists at KCAI’s End of Semester Exhibition and Sale May 5-8.

Needlecraft is a wide range of skills, from the basics to those who want exquisite crafts. Needlepoints, cross stitches, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, and weaving are just a few of the many ways you can express your creativity, improve your skills, and connect with others.

Meetings of like-minded people can take place in groups or even by individuals. They are a great way to learn from each other and work on your projects.

Recently, the World War I Museum hosted a “Mrs. Wilson’s Knitting Circle” for beginners and experts alike to learn more about the tradition during the Great War.

Many local businesses also host classes and groups. Yarn Social is a neighborhood business in West Plaza that offers one-onone sessions, classes and social hour every Monday. They also host “Mistake Mondays,” intended for people who know how to knit or crochet, but need specific help fixing a mistake or understanding a stitch or pattern. They are on every first and third weekday from 3-6 pm.

Waldo’s KC Needlepoint, along with having an extensive inventory of threads and canvases, provides a stitch vault on the website, with diagrams of different stitch styles, as well as other helpful information.

The Studio, in Overland Park, offers classes as well as a weekly meet-up on Tuesday mornings, “Coffee, Sit, and Stitch.”

Kansas City Fiber Guild holds weekly meetings to share information on resources in the Greater Kansas City area, from Independence up to Leavenworth. Sunflower Knitters Guild, Kansas hosts two meetings a month and other knitting-centric events.

There’s also the Caring Hands Knitting Group, a free 50+ community group in Roeland Park, Kansas, which knits and crochets hats for charity and provides lessons for beginners. Currently, the group meets in Roeland Park’s City Hall on Tuesdays from 1-3 p.m., May 2 to August 29.