It’s going to be a busy weekend in Mission as more than 40 events are planed to help celebrate the 10th anniversary of Culture Days.
In downtown Mission, Trendy or What Knot Yarns and Gifts, located at 33118a First Ave., will be the site of two fashion shows and two “how to” seminars being run by the Mission Weavers and Spinners Guild.
The fashion shows take place on Friday and Saturday at 2 p.m., while the seminar on how to learn circular weaving on an old CD takes place at 11 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
“Many of our members have made wonderful wearable art and we are going to showcase them in our fashion shows,” said Mady Pechler, owner of Trendy or What Knot and treasurer of the guild.
The event is free to the public and between 20 and 25 hand-created items will be showcased.
“They are all for sale but they are all handmade with hand-weaving or hand-spun yarn. They are all unique items,” Pechler said.
Some of the pieces took more than 100 hours of work to create.
“It’s not work, it’s fun,” said Heleen de Boer, a longtime guild member and the person in charge of the loom room.
Along with the fashion show are two workshops, designed for kids, families and beginners.
“Old CDs can be used to make a woven piece that looks like a dream catcher,” Pechler said.
Teaching these skills is part of what Culture Days is all about.
“Culture is what keeps a community alive. If you don’t know what happened before, you don’t know where you have to go,” de Boer said.
And weaving and spinning has been around for centuries.
This weekend is also an opportunity to engage the public and educate them.
“Some people may not consider textile arts an art, but it totally is,” Pechler said.