WHAT ARE FIX-ITS & REPAIR FAIRS?

A mending circle is an old-timey gathering of people who want to tackle their mending piles (and have some fun socializing while doing it!). The trouble with mending piles is that they seem to get taller and taller and we never seem to find the time to get to the work. Or sometimes we know we want to repair an item, but we’re not exactly sure how.

The Beargrass Mending Circle aims to build a fun and supportive community of menders while also filling the mending knowledge gap by having both novices and experts at the gathering. If you have a particularly tricky repair and would like to ask for advice, experienced menders can help. If you’re an expert, come lend your wisdom.

Bellevue Library’s Makerspace offers weekly mending circles. We will have mending and darning supplies, basic instructions and examples. 

Transition Fidalgo & Friends hosts Fix-It Days at the Anacortes Farmers Market and other locations throughout Skagit Co.

Guests are encouraged to bring any item that needs repair (like lamps or small appliances -whatever a handy person can fix) and our talented tinkerers will see if they can get it working again! Our motto is “if you can put it on our table, we’ll assess it and attempt to repair it”.  We’ve repaired kitchen appliances, yard tools, hand tools, home appliances, clocks, lamps, ice makers, sculptures, almost anything you can think of over the past 11 years. Of the items we deem repairable, we have an 80% success rate!

Most items brought in during Fix-It Days are repaired on the spot. However, some items may require locating replacement parts and take a week or longer. Transition Fidalgo charges for the cost of repair supplies, (e.g.- watch battery) and gratefully accepts donations to further support the work of Transition Fidalgo & Friends. 

About Transition Fidalgo & Friends: Transition Fidalgo is part of a network of nonprofits that aims to raise awareness of and develop solutions to the challenges of climate change. We promote a move away from fossil fuels through decreasing demand, increasing efficiency, supporting renewable energy, and fostering the local production of food, energy, and goods. Locally, TF&F encourages community members to reduce consumption of goods, reuse and repair them as much as possible, and then recycle items that are no longer salvageable. 

Is your toaster on the fritz again? Do you have a favorite sweater that needs some love? 

The Facility Makerspace opens the Engineering Technology Department at Edmonds College to the local community and provides a collaborative space where ordinary people with extraordinary ideas can come together. Fix-it Fairs at the Facility are a fantastic opportunity to breathe new life into beloved belongings. Save the planet while you save some money. 

Not only will you avoid the cost of replacement, you’ll also be helping the environment by keeping waste out of landfills. Imagine the satisfaction of watching our fixers tinker, tune, and mend your broken down stuff. Learn from our experienced repair volunteers how to keep things running at home. Take some time to explore our makerspace and see how we can empower you to learn new skills and complete new projects faster than you ever thought possible.

It’s a win-win-win for your wallet, the planet, and your sense of accomplishment!

– vouchers for low-income residents and those recovering from crisis, providing clothing and home textiles;
– emergency financial assistance for those facing a crisis;
– emergency warming packs for those without housing;
– learning opportunities through free clothing repair workshops held the first Wednesday of each month, with free access to tools like sewing machines to fix a favourite garment; and
– reduction of textile waste, providing a sustainable alternative for purchasing and directing unsellable garments to a textile recycling stream, keeping clothes out of landfills.

*Not a traditional repair event for members of the public to have their own items fixed. This offers opportunities to donate and/or volunteer to repair used furniture for others**

Similar to food banks, furniture banks re-distribute resources. In this case: home furnishings. While our other friends at furniture banks across the nation are working with gently used furniture finding pieces new homes “as-is,” we, at Furniture Repair Bank, focus on items that no one else wanted. The first of its kind, we put work, love, and community hands onto furniture that was destined for the landfill and bring its value back to use in serving our most vulnerable community members.

Green Okanogan Repair Cafés are free fix-it events where fixers will be on hand to repair electronics, small appliances, household items, clothing, jewelry, yard and garden items, bicycle tuneups and bicycle tire patching.  Learn more at: https://greenokanogan.weebly.com. For questions contact info@greenokanogan.org

A program of King Co.’s Solid Waste Division, these repair events have been taking place regularly since 2016. 

At these free community repair events, our skilled repair people, or “fixers,” will work on your items, repairing or mending them if they can, and often giving you useful advice as well! We work on lamps, vacuums, fans, chairs, tables, tools, computers, music players, TVs, blenders, toasters, toys, pants, dresses, bags, and much more! Although you are encouraged to call or write in advance to discuss your repair, all these King County repair events are first-come, first-served (one item at a time), with no appointments or reservations. We offer these repair events throughout King County, excluding Seattle.

Learn More about King Co. Repair Events

The WSU Lewis County Master Recycler Composters host repair events at multiple locations throughout Lewis County on a rolling basis.

Do you have a busted zipper or ripped jeans? Do you have a broken bike or a toasted toaster? Don’t toss it…Repair it!

Our volunteer Fixers are ready to help you repair clothing, sleeping bags, bicycles, computers, small electronics & appliances, lamps, vacuums, and other housewares, small lawnmowers and other small engines, sharpen knives and hand tools, & more.

Refugee Artisan Initiative is now offering free mending services to the public. This project aims to reduce landfill waste, pass on vital skills, and create equitable income for artisans.

Watch and learn as artisans mend and repair clothing—like a pair of jeans or a favorite shirt—for yourself or others.

Participants are welcome to bring up to three articles of clothing. Each visitor will receive up to 20 minutes of free mending service. Mending is first come, first serve (no advance registration required.) Please plan to stay at RAI while your item is mended.

RAI will offer four mending services:
– Sewing a button
– Sewing an open seam
– Patching a hole
– Hemming pants

Northwest Free Repairs is a group of volunteers dedicated to conserving the earth’s resources and decreasing the burden on our overtaxed landfill areas by repairing and rehabilitating broken household items that would otherwise be discarded.

For any broken or non-functioning item that you can comfortably carry in, NWFR will evaluate it and determine if it can be repaired. Owners must be present and participate during the repair of their items. Minors must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

Evaluation and repair services are free and they also supply some basic parts and materials. However, if unique repair parts are required (e.g. new motors, circuit boards, wiring harnesses, etc.) the item’s owner must purchase them – that is your only cost.  Most of successful repairs require no new parts. 

Events take place at the Bellingham Makerspace as well as the downtown Bellingham Public Library in the Skill Share section.

An extension of the Phinney Neighborhood Association’s Tool Library, the PNA Fixers Collective is an informal group of folks who meet simply for the fun of taking stuff apart, putting it back together again, and maybe even fixing some things in the process. The idea is to take a moment before throwing something away to figure out if you can save it and prevent buying a new one. It’s also an excellent way to learn how things work and enjoy some good company!

You can bring something broken along with you or just bring yourself. The Fixer Collective hosts fixer pop-ups twice monthly on the 1st Wednesday in Greenwood and 3rd Thursday in Crown Hill. 

If you have questions about a repair, you can reach out to the Fixers via their repair support Google Group thread

Story: “Fixer collectives try to change a ‘throw away society’ habit”

Video: The Fixers Collective: It’s Better to Repair Than Replace

Ragfinery is dedicated to educating our community about the issues of textile waste and how we can each get involved through free mending events, workshops, and instructional materials.

Come and dedicate a little time to mending, patching, fixing and repairing clothing. Extend the life of your beloved item, stitch up an unwanted hole, or just make something more funky. Bring a cloth item or practice on one of our denim scraps. Remakery Tacoma‘s Mending Mondays occur every month. Tools, thread, fabric scraps and inspiration will be provided for hand stitching, applique, patch making as well as sewing machines. Repairing clothes is an easy and effective way to reduce waste. Hang out and craft with other crafty folk. Currently hosted at community partner locations

Repair Café Spokane pops up at every 2nd Thursday at the Perry Street Farmers Market, between 3pm and 7pm between May and October.  We have repair experts on-hand to help you fix, mend (clean clothes), tune-up or troubleshoot your broken or damaged household items.

Our mission is to help you fix your items free of charge. If more expensive parts are needed we will advise how you can purchase the parts and help you do the repair once you have the parts in your possession.

Donations and tips are welcome: this helps us purchase a variety of commonly needed parts for repairing the most frequently seen items.

Repair Café Yakima‘s mission is to create a more sustainable Yakima by promoting the culture of repair in partnership with Yakima Maker Space.

A project of Sustainable Capitol Hill and run out of their Tool Library, you’ll also find workshops on everything from sewing basics to fixing your cell phone screen. Learn more!

A program of Columbia Springs, Repair Clark County provides repair of household goods at various locations around Vancouver and across Clark Co.

{re}Purpose is a zero waste group on Whidbey Island that started in 2021. It operates on the premise that there is no such thing as trash and that everything is a resource. The non-profit organization is focused on zero waste education, community action and policy change.

Launching in April 2024, rePurpose will be hosting Repair Cafés at various community partner locations around Whidbey Island.

From its start in June 2018, Rodeo City Repair Café‘s community of volunteers have been donating their time to help with the repair of household appliances, lamps, tools, furniture, bicycles and clothing, to keep these items in service and reduce landfill waste. Our repair staff offer a wide range of repair skills and knowledge and we have a good selection of tools on hand. Events are held at the IOOF Cemetery Shop on Radio HIll, 1900 N. Brick Rd. in Ellensburg. Our repair services are offered free to community members. We gladly accept donations of money, tools or repair materials.

Hosted by the SJI Grange #966 in partnership with Transition San Juan, Alchemy Arts, and The Fellow Shop. The SJ Repair Fair features booths offering demonstrations and/or DIY instruction on Screen-Printing & Natural Dyeing in addition to Basic Mending/Sewing, Blade Sharpening, Small Furniture Repair, Bike Repair, and Tool Repair (no combustible engines).

• BYO: Mug, Stuff to Fix, & Clean Clothing to Darn, Screen-Print, & Dye.

The SQBIPOC Sharpening Alliance is a community of BIPOC/queer folks teaching other BIPOC/queer folks the tradecraft of knife sharpening. They also provide sharpening services to the community during special events.

Part of Seattle REconomy, the Shoreline Tool Library is hosting free community Fix-it Nights starting in January 2024. Check out the Events calendar for dates!

Part of WSU’s Sustainable Community Stewards Program, Snohomish Co.’s Repair Cafés take place at multiple sites across the county on a rolling basis.

The South King Tool Library (SKTL), began supporting and coordinating repair events in 2018 to foster repair over replacement. In addition to repair events, SKTL provides equal access to tools and training in order to help maintain neighborhoods, build community and reduce unnecessary consumption. The key principles of our organization are Sharing, Training and Empowerment. We share tools and information, offer training and education, to empower our community to make a positive impact in their lives.  We provide instruction on proper tool use, offer classes on a variety of topics, we work with community partners to distribute educational and informative materials. Our partnerships are critical in bringing our community together, building equity and accessibility, as we work together to build better lives in South King and North Pierce Counties. Anyone 18 or over can become a member of SKTL. You don’t even need to live in South King County. 

Spokane Zero Waste‘s “Mend-It” Cafe, in partnership with Art Salvage Spokane, is designed to help divert textile waste from landfill and grow a repair economy here in Spokane. With this effort we will be joining communities around the globe engaged in reuse and repair over replacement. Our aim is to reduce textile waste by offering free mending services, to teach people a variety of repair/sewing techniques and provide an income to menders.

Hosted by the Tacoma Tool Library, Fix-it Nights are free, community-based events where community members come together for the fun of taking stuff apart and putting it back together again. In this process items get fixed, rather than buying a new one and preventing throwing something away. Come and learn how things work, enjoy some good company and save an item from ending up in the landfill. 

What can be fixed? Almost everything, including mendable clothing, lamps, small appliances, small electronics, furniture, jewelry, toys, bikes, and outdoor equipment.  We only ask attendees not to bring anything leaking, dangerous, that contains gasoline, or has a strong odor.

Learn more about Tacoma’s Fix-it Nights!

Like all Repair Programs, ours is based on volunteer Fixers in our community. Our Cafés consistently serve two to three dozen people, and twice that in items. We offer sewing, darning, mechanical, electrical, and woodworking fixes. Our repair program offers a practical, hands-on solution for our customers to continue to be owners of their belongings. We now offer Repair Cafés in conjunction with Our Tool Library, Recycling, and Material Reuse Programs. Providing these services together, at the same location, makes it easy to for our customers to use resources wisely and change the cycle of consumption.

Learn more about Methow Recycles Repair Café

We are members of the Vashon community who love to tinker and have a fervent desire to keep as many useable items out of the waste stream as possible. Funded by the King County Eco-Consumer Program the repair café is a collaboration of the Vashon Tool Library, Zero Waste Vashon and committed members of the community at large. Learn more about Vashon Fix-it!

Article: Vashon’s Fix-It Cafe was a well-oiled machine

Waste Loop inspires and transforms local waste streams into sustainable resources in the greater Leavenworth area. Building on this mission, the Waste Loop team offers pop-up repair events like Repair Cafés, Mending Mondays, and a Gear Repair events. See what’s next on the Waste Loop Repair Events calendar!

Blender busted? Computer kaput? Weedeater wrecked? Whatever’s broken, don’t let it keep gathering dust in the corner – bring it down to West Seattle Tool Library‘s Fix-it Workshop, every Wednesday of the month! Use the tools and facilities of the shop and pick our librarians’ brains to get your damaged equipment back in the action.

Availability is first-come-first-served. This workshop is provided free of charge, though donations are appreciated!

We ask that all items brought for repair be of reasonable size. We are unable to service pressure vessels, refrigeration equipment, firearms, and high-voltage electrical components.

Hours: 5:30-7:30, every Wednesday