MAKING & MENDING 2025@GLOBAL GARDENS

by Making and Mending Club founder and coordinator, Cat Lewis

We met up 22 times through the year, with additional days for events that we took part in.

There’s 80 people on the Whatsap group, though meetings are usually with around 5-8.

The Wednesday 1st of the month meetings happen mostly at Global Gardens, where we now have a lovely space in the classroom with materials and tools, for communal use in repair, spinning, weaving, drawing, dyeing, flax work, printing and possibly more!

The Saturday meetings moved to my space in Riverside, Friperie. It’s an extension of the ethos of MnM, with preloved fabrics, haberdashery etc, a sewing area, print table and dye room. As there’s electricity (and warmth!) we can do some additional processes, gather around the fire and it’s brought in new participants.

In April we planted flax at St Fagan National Museum of History museum again, our 4th year there. We were given a new location, in a beautiful, cultivated farm kitchen garden. There’s evidence of flax and linen being worked on it’s original site in North Wales, so it’s been lovely to bring it back to life there. We grew approximately 30m sq of Avian variety Linen, and got a really good crop in August after about 110 days – tall, fine, with plenty of seed that’s been saved – yet to be weighed sorry! As usual at the public engagement events we did there, everyone we talked to and worked with were amazed and delighted at seeing the linen making process.

At Global Gardens, we grew indigo, which suffered from excess heat and lack of water in the polytunnel, and then outside too. It did grow with lots of flower, but no useable leaves. Then we lost the flowers and so the seed, to frost! Try harder next year.. There’s a good amount of madder in the dye bed, and the golden rod has taken and spread. It needs more regular care and try another dye plant more suited.

We did have plenty of indigo to use from the Hollybush community garden, where the partial shade and more water meant a big, bushy planter full. So we managed a few indigo sessions with home grown fresh leaf, as planned for our ‘blue books’ theme for the year.

We also made cyanotypes in the garden and some bookmaking, with a research and inspiration visit to Cardiff Met Uni special book collection, kindly arranged by member Doreen Barnaville.

Finally, we created an exhibition at Waterloo Tea Penarth to showcase some of the artworks createed by our group mebers,

This year, 2026, we’ll continue to meet up in both spaces. We hope to grow linen again, at the garden, St Fagan’s and in the community. We want to have a few specific workshop sessions, such as brush making, rope work and pigment paints, but most sessions will be open to whatever people want to bring, share, practice. The meetings remain free and open access, though we may do bookings for the workshops, with a low charge to cover material costs.

It would be good to get a little grant funding again to pay tutors, space fees and material costs!

It’s an amazing community to be part of – there’s friendships, sharing, inspiration and hope held within it.

Thanks to Global Gardens for having us as part of your wonderful community. There’s so much crossover between the groups and to be in the garden is such a privilege.