Repair Cafe

Hi battybats, I repair clothes too and more recently got into dressmaking. I love finding ways to be more sustainable and creative.

Oh wow I can't believe you started fixing stuff at such a young age. Due to that you have such an amazing talent now. I'll have a look to see if there is anything similar nearby as I'm always looking for some new craft to learn.

Well get in there! We do clothes repairs...

(And we fix stuff for each other of course..)

I love repair cafes- there's one in my town. I'm more of a clothes repair person myself but I think it's great to have any kind of ability to fix things rather than having them thrown away.

Yep planned obsolescence, and throw away culture is probaly one of the the things top of my list that I hate about the modern world. Good on you for being a make do and mender.

When I was about 7 my thunderbird 4 broke, and after a couple of weeks of pestering my dad to fix it, the evil stepmother (in one of the three nice things I remember her doing for me), bought me my own soldering iron...

For a while my work was accompanied by the intermittent smell of burning flesh, plastic, clothing etc, but by the age of 12 I think, I finally stopped burning myself with the bloody thing. It would have gone much better I feel if my first soldering iron had had a proper stand, not a stupid clip to hang it off the edge of a wastepaper basket etc. 

Edit: To be more helpful, RC has a requirement also fro non-fixing volunteers to do organise the flow of clients to the repairers if that appeals to anyone, collect the donations when made etc. (And our voluinteer gets us a cup of tea midway through, which from my perspective is perhaps the most solid contribution of all!)

This is such a fantastic idea! I would love to upskill myself but I wouldn't know where to start. How did you first get into fixing things?

Excellent proposal with what appears to be global reach for waste reduction. papa's freezeria

I Sperg said:

Everything electrical made since the 2000's is pretty much throwaway crap from which very little useful materials or parts can be extracted. If you really want "fixable" the 1980's was the zenith of electronics and mechanical items.

I think I may have reported your post as abusive by mistake, whilst trying to reply.

Doh.  Sorry if that is so.

Anyway, I remember a plumber who was mending my washing machine in 1994 explaining to me about 'built in obsolescence' in the 'white goods' industry and finding the idea horrid but at the same time, understandable, from a business point of view.

It is really good for the environment too. 

That was nice of her. 

Last month was, my customer was so happy that she bought me an apple danish!

I treat it as a "sport". It's fun to see how many I can do in the very restricted time period.

It's also the most direct way I know of to rebel against the way our society is headed.

If you rely on technolgy that you cannot repair, (or get repaired, quickly and locally) you are putting yourself in a vulnerable position. 

Picture yourself in your old age, with everything gradually failing around you, and even if you know a guy like me, he cannot change a part and get it going again, without having the manufacturers blessing (and special software).

Every old thing that we extend the life of, is a little bit of pushback against the dystopia or relentless consumerism and transitory possessions that big industry has planned to ensare us all in. 

When I was young, anything made by Philips had a circuit diagram tucked inside, and parts were freely available, as with many other electrical manufacturers. Now it's all throwaway almost unfixable crap.

I encountered an airconditioner a couple of years ago, which I could have fixed If the tupenny ha'penny electronics board was available. it wasn't that was a two year old model and the UK importer is long gone out of business (or not answering phones or emails any way). 

Everything electrical made since the 2000's is pretty much throwaway crap from which very little useful materials or parts can be extracted. If you really want "fixable" the 1980's was the zenith of electronics and mechanical items.

Quality has gone down the toilet ever since, although in some areas "functionality" (whilst you have it) is quite incredible.

That sounds fab.

Well done for doing that (and for being clever enough to mend things) and thanks.

There is one every month in Portsmouth, which I didn't know about.

So many things are digital now - I bet some people throw them away when the batteries stop working.

A great idea to stop waste and I notice it's a worldwide thing.