MILKSHAKE CHOCOLATESUMMER 07
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sewing for the people


01 Michel Swaine.

 


03 Michael Swaine

 


05

 

07 Veronica Horne

 

Many of the people who bring their clothing to be mended have simple projects, like a hem, or to mend a hole or a button. But Veronica Horne is probably Michael's favorite regular. With each month, she brings new projects with a vision. A few years ago, she brought in a photo of Jackie O wearing a jacket with a fur collar. Veronica brought Michael a fur collar and a sweatshirt and asked him to recreate the item. It was a challenge, but Michael really enjoyed the project, and Veronica received many compliments on her new sweater.

 

Jt: How long have you known Michael for?
Veronica Horne: I think about 4 years.

Jt: Do you guys sit and talk?
VH: Yes, I tell him what goes on in my life. Because it changes every day.

Jt: What's going on now?
VH: My living situation is kind of rocky. I live in a hotel, my neighbors kind of bother me a lot. They come by and ask me for money or something.

Jt: So where do you find your clothes?
VH: I find it on the street. I found this [jacket] on the street. It's kind of weird, but everybody likes this coat. I cant remember where I found it, but this is a good place to find clothes. A lot of people do sidewalk sales, and just leave good clothes behind. I don't know, they leave it behind because the police come.

Jt: So do they just forget the clothes?
V: They don't forget, they just leave them, maybe come back later for them.

Jt: Is that where you find most of your clothes?
VH: Yes, and next to the garbage can, people leave clothes there too.

Jt: Well, it's good that you're able to find these, like that skirt looks nice, it's tweed...
VH: Oh this my neighbor gave me, it's made with Scottish wool. It just needs a zipper.

San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood is historically one of the toughest parts of the city. It's right in the center, a few minutes walk from Saks Fifth Avenue, and the Prada boutique. When you live downtown, it's easy to forget that just one or two blocks down, it's too risky to walk alone. And really there are only a few 'dangerous' blocks, but they aren't without their gems. On the 15th of every month, in Cohen Alley, part of the Luggage Store Annex, Artist, Michael Swaine does his project "Sewing for the People". Swaine rolls out a cart with an antique push-pedal sewing machine and offers free mending services to the public.

Interview by Jennine Tamm
Ph by Kimberly Schumacher

 

Jennine Tamm: You've been doing this for quite a while...
Michael Swaine: Yes, about 4 and a half years

 

Jt: How did you start this project?
MS: A friend of mine and I were walking through a slightly different part of the neighborhood (Tenderloin) and she asked me "What would you do with an empty lot?" and I had just found this sewing machine on the street someone had thrown it away, so we brought in a truck to my studio. So this question reminded me that I had this free sewing machine, so I had this idea to set up the machine in this empty lot and mend clothes. I actually never used the lot. But that question kind of sat with me.

 

Jt: The idea kind of incubated...
MS: Right, right.


Jt: Where did you learn how to sew?
MS: My mom gave me some lessons, but mostly from Amy of Future Farmers. She had a big sewing project and asked for some help, so I just jumped in. Got a big sewing machine and learned real quick.


Jt: Yeah, you just got a learn to thread that thing.
MS: Yeah, once you got that figured out, you just kind of jump in. And when you break something, you gotta fix it, and you learn a little more.

 

Jt: Where is this machine from?
MS: I found it on the street, and...[the cart], I built.

 

Jt: Did it need to be repaired?
MS: It just needs a new belt. And it needs a little oil.

 

Jt: Does consumer culture, and environmental issues play a part "Sewing for the People"?
MS: I'm not out here with any specific agenda. Everyone comes out here with something that they need, and I'm not trying to push anything. The agenda that I am trying to push, is kind of like the little kid with the lemon-aid stand, the sewing stand. It somehow changes the streets. Subtle or not so subtle.

 

Jt: So you're putting a little good energy to into a place that desperately needs it.
MS: Yeah, I like things being green, and I like the 'no energy needed' but it's all kind of secondary. The people that are coming out here are maybe trying to look a little bit better for a job interview or a date., or their business or the job they need to go to. We live in this strange consumer culture were it wants you to throw your thing away because they want you to buy a new thing, and your constantly hit over the head with advertisements get something new, new, new.

 

Jt: What's the biggest thing you've learned from doing this? How has it inspired your life?
MS: That's a tough question, I don't think I have a perfect answer for it.


Jt: Nobody has a perfect answer for that...
MS: At first my friend Patrick made posters for the first six months I was out here, I said, "Oh, I'll do it for six months" and now it's interesting because I can't imagine stopping.

 

Jt: Does this [coming outside to sew] enrich your life somehow?
MS: So I guess, I'll use Veronica as an example because she's my favorite regular... but I think we're all in our own little world and most of the time you lock yourself up in your own little room, and you don't necessarily meet your neighbors... And Veronica is very honest and so there are lots of times when she tells me what's going on in her life, and it's a rare thing in this American, you know, air-conditioned world that we live in where you don't necessarily have those moments of honesty with a neighbor that is not your mother, brother, girlfriend or boyfriend. That's the thing that I take from this, that reminder that there is something really important about sitting down with someone you don't know so well and giving them enough time to have that honest moment.

More can be learned about Michael Swaine's projects on futurefarmers.com



02 The Kit


04

 


06

 

08

 


09 Veronica Horne

 

10 The author and the artist