Mend & Remake – Community Sewing & Repair Workshops

Mend & Remake started as a small, community-led response to fast fashion, rising waste, and the loss of everyday repair skills. What began as informal repair sessions has grown into a regular program where people share knowledge, reduce waste, and reconnect with making.

Project Team

Lise – Project & Volunteer Manager
Lise leads the program and manages planning, volunteer coordination, marketing, risk and safety, and reporting to ensure events run smoothly. She first got involved as a sewist when Mend & Remake began, and gradually stepped into a leadership role, taking on full project management. She also volunteers at Waverley Repair Cafe and is involved with many creative and arts communities including The Crafty Queers.

Chiara – Founder & Organiser
Chiara is a Bondi local and mother of three. She founded Mend & Remake. In the first 2 years, she ran the project, coordinated sessions, managed marketing, and provided sewing machines and tools. She continues to support the program by supporting the organisation, welcoming and guiding participants. She also volunteers at Waverley Repair Cafe and engaged with Regen Sydney to bring sustainability practices to the community.

Kit – Support Project Manager & Community Convenor
Kit supports coordination, welcomes participants, and helps guide newcomers. She teaches creative repurposing techniques using a wide range of materials and strengthens Mend & Remake’s connection to the wider sustainability community.

Shareena – Marketing & Content Creation
Shareena supports Mend & Remake’s marketing and communications, managing email communications, event listings, paid ads and other promotional activity. She also contributes to social media by creating engaging short-form videos, bringing her experience in content planning, filming, editing and posting across platforms, including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.

Vivian – Social Media Management & Content Creation
Vivian manages social media and content creation for Mend & Remake. She has a marketing degree from the University of Sydney and is currently completing the Meta Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate. With a background in administration and an interest in fashion and visual storytelling, she creates content from concept through to editing

Riley – Social Media & PR
Riley develops content for social media, including videos and interviews, and supports Mend & Remake with her journalistic skills.

Ashley – Content & Social Media
Ashley supports content creation and social media for Mend & Remake. She has a strong interest in fashion, with a focus on thrifting and upcycling, which she shares through her TikTok and YouTube channels. As a creative director for a fine dining restaurant, she manages social media and marketing, bringing experience in photography, videography, and editing across both short and long-form content.

Hayley – Design and communications
Hayley is skilled in design and communication with extensive experience in the nonprofit sector. She is working on making the attendee journey smoother and safer with clear and kind communication and cute design elements.

Jess – Social Media Design
Jess supports the social media team with her design expertise

Shi & Summer – Finance Support
Shi and Summer manage the budget and ensure financial processes are in place, keeping the program running smoothly and transparently.

Sewing specialists

Lise – Creative Repair & Upcycling Specialist
Lise is fashion designer, sewist, visual artist and photographer. She draws on her background in visual arts, fashion and sustainability to support participants through hands-on mending, upcycling and creative projects. She helps create a welcoming, collaborative community space.

Sara – Fashion Designer & Maker
Sara is a self-taught sewer and sustainable fashion advocate. She guides participants in repair, upcycling, and design-led projects, inspiring creative problem-solving and mindful garment use.

Jess – Sewing Specialist
Jess has been sewing and creating outfits since she was about 12, when her mum first taught her. She later studied fashion and graphic design and now works as a graphic designer. Jess believes the best clothes are the ones you make yourself and loves sharing her skills and passion for sustainability through mending and making.

Chiara – Sewist
Chiara brings hands-on experience and sewing skills she love to share with beginners and she also inducts attendees with sewing machines.

Jane – Sewing specialist
Jane brings a lifelong passion for sewing and many years of experience working in the fashion industry as a designer. She supports Mend & Remake with strong garment construction knowledge, practical sewing skills and creative problem-solving, while also drawing on her background in pattern making, design and textiles.

Michelle – Sewing specialist
Michelle is a keen sewer with a passion for sharing practical sewing skills with others. She supports Mend & Remake with patience, care and encouragement, helping participants build confidence, learn new techniques and enjoy the process of repairing, reworking and creating with textiles.

Ursula – Sewing specialist
Ursula brings hands-on experience altering and mending clothes for herself, family and friends since 2019. She supports Mend & Remake with a thoughtful and practical approach, finding joy in bringing well-loved clothes back to life and helping others experience the satisfaction of repair and reuse.

Marta – Sewing & Crochet Specialist
Marta is a qualified fashion sewist and crochet expert. She teaches mending, upcycling, and textile skills, helping participants gain confidence and creativity with hands-on repair techniques.

Past volunteers: Holly (Events & promotion), Chloe (promotion).