A few months ago I shared a darning sampler I had been working on which included a watermelon shaped darn, and I finally have a project for it. After scouring charity shops for moth eaten garments I finally did a shoutout on Instagram to see if anyone had anything they would be willing to donate. And after all of that, one of my closest friends gave me this charcoal grey jumper, adorned with around 60 moth holes. This in itself was a lesson in not allowing myself to become too insular with my projects; we are so much more powerful as a collective.
I’ve opened this project up so that a group of menders across the UK can collectively repair the jumper, raising money for families in Palestine and of course, calling for a ceasefire now.
Here's the plan...
Darning details: watermelon shaped darns or Palestine flag coloured darns in any shape; this will be dependent on the comfort/skill level of the mender. I want everyone involved to feel comfortable expressing themselves with this. Some of the holes on the jumper are grouped together and so larger darns may be needed to cover a few holes at once. Again, this will be up to the mender and there is no right or wrong.
Tools: I will provide skeins of thread (most likely cotton embroidery floss) and a set of darning needles to be sent out with the jumper, these must be forwarded on with the jumper at every stage.
Step one: I have darned the first few holes, and made a donation via Operation Olive Branch.
Step two: People in the UK can then sign up on the understanding that they have to donate to be involved. The amount donated is totally up to each person depending on their circumstances and there will be up to 20 sign up spots available.
Step three: I will post the jumper on to the first person on the list, and they will donate, darn, post a photo of their darn and the progress of the jumper to their chosen social media platform and then post the jumper to the next person. Each person involved can choose to darn just one hole, or up to 5 holes.
I’d love for people to share this as far as possible - so when they post the photo of their darn, asking for the people they know to donate as well and so on. A domino effect.
At some point I'd like to create a video of the jumpers journey but I'm not sure how this will work yet. Even if it’s as simple as a photo/quick video of the darn or the postbox they send it to. I want to convey the idea of how many hands are coming together to mend this jumper and by doing so donating and showing our support in helping to mend a totally broken situation.
Step four: Eventually the jumper will be complete and sent back to me, where I will organise for the jumper to either be part of a raffle (there are so many brilliant ones happening like Makers 4 Palestine). Or, depending on the timeline of when the jumper is completed, I can raffle it myself and have a direct link set up for Operation Olive Branch so that money is donated straight to them.
If you have any questions about the project or if I've missed out any key points then please let me know! I'll be back soon for the first update...
