KALINA PANOVA
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Repair Cafe
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500 Terry Francine Street
San Francisco, CA 94158
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Instructional dESIGN / app / ecosystem design
Fabric Repair
Digital Initiative
About Project (2023)
This project aims to modernise an old clothes mending technique from the second world war and tailor it for a 21st century user. This project addresses stereotypes around mending and recontextualizes the practice to reintroduce it to the current product cycle through a design system in a social space
Generational skills are disappearing and there is no social endorsement towards repair so people become less likely to engage in mending
TOPICS:
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Sustainable fashion cycle
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Modernising outdated techniques
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Individuality
METHODOLOGIES AND AIMS:
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Ethnographic and Auto-ethnographic research
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Physical prototyping
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Instructional design
FINAL TOPIC:
How to reintroduce an element of the product life cycle ( repair ) to a modern user
01
Let’s identify the Topic and Problem
Need to strengthen interpersonal bonds in a progressively online environment
Consumer Perceptions Related to Clothing Repair and Community Mending Events
Nowland, R., Necka, E.A. and Cacioppo, J.T., 2018
Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13(1), pp.70-87
Wearing repaired clothing has historically been a signifier of financial hardship
Fashion and Sustainability : Repairing the clothes we wear
Parise, S., Guinan, P.J. and Kafka, R., 2016
Business Horizons, 59(4), pp.411-420
Consumers do not repair clothes, as they are socially conditioned out of the making process
Research on the influence of ' negative emotional communication during the COVID-19 pandemic
Lu, D. and Hong, D., 2022.
Frontiers in psychology, 13, p.931835
02
Observational research + interviews
Repair Cafés are community initiatives that promote repair and sustainability by providing a space for people to fix broken items. The Ealing Repair Café, founded by Mary, Lone, and Yvonne, focuses on teaching clothing repair to empower individuals and reduce waste. I observed the event, balancing brief conversations with participants and appreciating the strong community bonds that formed naturally.
Participant #1
23 years old, Student
2 years ago she was brutally attacked at a park by an aggressive dog, which resulted in her jumper being destroyed. She went to thrift shops to find a similar item and bought one that had a hole but was otherwise identical. Mary taught her how to mend the hole and we talked a lot about how much more character the new jumper is gonna have. Her friend told her about a repair club where she lives so she took 2 tube trains, a bus and her new jumper to the meeting. She shared with me that in some way she was not just mending her jumper but trying to overcome this traumatic experience.
Participant #2
Female, 29, Energy consultant
After ruining her favourite silk shirt in the washing machine she decided she didn't want to throw it out and was going to do something creative with it. She works in the neighbourhood as a high-school biology teacher and had seen a poster about the meetings on her way back from work. She was very anxious to come at first because she had 0 sewing knowledge and didn't know what to anticipate. However she fell in love with the atmosphere and now comes every other Monday after work to have a glass of wine and mend. She said she loved the relaxing atmosphere and this is her 4th meeting.
Participant #3
73 years old,
Her granddaughter’s red cardigan had a couple of moth holes and she was making tiny darning patches because her daughter loves it so much. She has been coming to these events since they started 5 mounts ago. She said it made her feel less lonely after her husband passed away.
Participant #4
45 years old, Biology teacher
She brought an old bath mat from the 70s. Her mother had bought it and she brought it to every house she has ever lived in. She saw a post about the repair club on Facebook and brought it. The mat was completely ordinary and would have been way easier to just replace it but she told me while laughing that she has never lived in a house without this mat and thus was extremely attached to it. Almost as if it was what made her house feel like home. Mary thought her to darn and she fixed it. She had moved 1 years ago and said coming there made her feel like part of a community.
03
Auto-ethnographic research + prototype
I knew I needed something to keep my fabric firm so when the thread was being pulled the fabric would not scrunch. I was floating around using paper, tape, a 3D printed mold and many more.
So I went back to researching the origins of darning and found an interesting technique suggested by Lydia Trattles Coates in her 1917 book “ American Dressmaking Step by Step“. She indeed suggested using paper as a stabilizer while sewing the patch - “ Do not draw the tread too tightly. If the hole is large baste the part to be darned with thin oilcloth or heavy paper before darning”
Method Modification + Testing
I then started experimenting with different types of paper - from receipts to heavy 300g paper and different lamination possibilities. As the author suggests, heavy paper works best to resist the pressure from the tread, but I have found that if a layer of tape or some sort of vinyl is applied on top it protects the integrity of the paper. What is more by after the user goes all around the patch, perforating the fabric, the patch detaches itself .
Outcomes of using the original instructions
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Control of the tread tension is really hard and ends up either too tight and therefore scrunching or further damaging the fabric or too loose and the treads become tangled and confusing
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Estimating how close each stitch should be relative to the thickness of the tread impacts the density of the patch and often makes a too light or dense weave. This is a problem because if the patches thickness is too different from the original fabric it will create functional and sensory problems for the wearer.
05
Topic research and insights
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Solving the crisis of immediacy: How digital technology can transform the customer
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Solving the crisis of immediacy: How digital technology can transform the customer
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Solving the crisis of immediacy: How digital technology can transform the customer
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Solving the crisis of immediacy: How digital technology can transform the customer
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Solving the crisis of immediacy: How digital technology can transform the customer experience
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Solving the crisis of immediacy: How digital technology can transform the customer experience
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Solving the crisis of immediacy: How digital technology can transform the customer experience
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04
Design Concept
inovative system for a repair cafe that eases the darning onboardign process and encourages creativity
Part 1:
An App that lets users personalise a patch design, acording to the size needed, pattern, colors, ect.
Part 2:
An patch gets printed
music is one of the most powerful concepts in the world:perfectly human. As a shared experience it elevates the bond between psyches on a level we cannot even understand
05
User Persona and Interaction Storyboard
Jordan Nilsen
“I’m not crafty — I’m just trying not to throw my stuff in a landfill. I’ve had this hoodie for years, it’s soft in all the right places. It’s not about looks — it’s about comfort, memory, and not buying more when I don’t need to. I don’t want to learn to sew like a pro, I just want a way to fix the things I already love without making it a whole thing.”
Demographics
Data
Tech comfort
Occupation
Location
Study area
He/him (21)
Average
International student
Imperial Uni London
Bio-engeneering
Values
Practicality
Sustainability
Community
Fashion
Individuality
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Frustrations
Finds it intimidating to start DIY projects at home
Doesn't want to buying a lot of supplies
Goals
Better connection with friends back home
Creative ways to share experience with friends
Distributed effort for a long lasting connection
06
App design with p5.js generative code
Add a Title
08
Degree show
Add a Title
How to make movement
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Solving the crisis of immediacy: How digital technology can transform the customer
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Solving the crisis of immediacy: How digital technology can transform the customer
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Solving the crisis of immediacy: How digital technology can transform the customer
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Solving the crisis of immediacy: How digital technology can transform the customer
I knew I needed something to keep my fabric firm so when the thread was being pulled the fabric would not scrunch. I was floating around using paper, tape, a 3D printed mold and many more.
So I went back to researching the origins of darning and found an interesting technique suggested by Lydia Trattles Coates in her 1917 book “ American Dressmaking Step by Step“. She indeed suggested using paper as a stabilizer while sewing the patch - “ Do not draw the tread too tightly. If the hole is large baste the part to be darned with thin oilcloth or heavy paper before darning”
I then started experimenting with different types of paper - from receipts to heavy 300g paper and different lamination possibilities. As the author suggests, heavy paper works best to resist the pressure from the tread, but I have found that if a layer of tape or some sort of vinyl is applied on top it protects the integrity of the paper.
07
Instructional design
About Project
Wavelenght is a parenting community app designed to connect young parents and offer support trough easy childcare, financial help and mental health support
Check out my other work
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