Help us bring hands-on sewing, mending, fashion + practical creative skills back to Detroit students.

What if young people learned to mend a torn shirt instead of throwing it away? To make something they could actually wear? To understand where their clothes come from, and discover that they can be makers, not just consumers?

This fall, Slow Stitch Detroit is launching Bringing Home Economics Back, a 10-week pilot program in two Detroit public schools.

Students will learn sewing, mending, fashion design, and textile skills while exploring sustainability, personal style, fair labor, and the impact of fast fashion.

But most importantly, they’ll learn by making with their own hands.

Thanks to support from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, awarded through our nonprofit fiscal sponsor, Neighborhood Art School, we have received a matching grant to help make this possible.

Now we need to raise $10,000 from our community to unlock the full funding and bring this program to life.

Your donation will help provide:

$25 helps provide materials for hands-on projects.

$100 helps provide the tools, materials + instruction for a student.

$500 helps bring the 10-week program into the classroom.

Every contribution gets us closer.

Help us bring Home Economics back, and give a new generation the skills and confidence to repair instead of replace and create instead of consume.

Sarah Jane Mark

Founder, Slow Stitch Detroit

MORE DETAILS

Why Bring Home Economics Back?

For generations, Home Economics taught practical skills that helped people make, mend, and care for what they owned.

Today, those classes have largely disappeared, even as young people are growing up in a world of fast fashion, textile waste, and constant pressure to consume.

Bringing Home Economics Back reimagines those skills for today.

Over ten weeks, students will learn sewing, mending, clothing design, textiles, and creative problem-solving while exploring sustainability, natural fibers, textile waste, fair labor, body positivity, personal style, and the hidden stories behind the clothes we wear.

Guided by Detroit artists and educators, students will discover that fashion can be a tool for creativity, confidence, self-expression, and positive change.

Our hope is that every student leaves believing they have the power to repair instead of replace, create instead of consume, and use their creativity to make a difference in the world.

About Slow Stitch Detroit

Slow Stitch Detroit is a Detroit-based creative incubator cultivating a Slow Fashion economy rooted in sustainability, equity, and collective creativity.

Through artist residencies, community workshops, and fashion education, we are building a future of fashion that honors people and the planet.

We believe clothing is more than something we wear. It tells stories, expresses identity, builds community, and connects us to the people who made it.

www.SlowStitchDetroit.com

Why We're Raising $10,000

Thanks to support from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, awarded through our nonprofit fiscal sponsor, Neighborhood Art School, we've received a matching grant to help launch this initiative.

As part of that award, we're raising $10,000 in community support to unlock the full funding and invest in the future of youth fashion education.

Your support will help us launch the two-school pilot this fall, expand year-round youth programming at Slow Stitch Detroit, and develop resources that can eventually bring this curriculum to more schools in Detroit and beyond.

Every gift, no matter the size, helps put meaningful, hands-on creative education into the lives of more young people.

Thank you for believing in the power of creativity, practical skills, and community.

Together, we can bring Home Economics back and inspire a new generation of makers.

Want to Make a Tax-Deductible Contribution?

Neighborhood Art School serves as Slow Stitch Detroit's nonprofit fiscal sponsor. If you'd like to receive a tax-deductible donation receipt, please contact Sarah Mark directly at [email redacted] for instructions on donating through Neighborhood Art School instead of GoFundMe.