Save Your Favorite Sock! In this workshop, you’ll learn how to mend a hole or reinforce a worn spot using a needle, thread, and a classic darning mushroom. Bring your worn-out sock and get started, materials will be provided!

You will go home with a repaired sock and a new skill.

Embroidery is an ancient craft technique that uses needle and thread to add beautiful patterns, text, or images to fabric. It’s a creative and personal way to embellish textiles, from clothing to home decor.

MerkWaardig is the embroidery association of the Netherlands, with over a thousand members sharing their love for hand embroidery. Whether it’s classic samplers or modern styles like visible mending, embroidery is alive and thriving! At the festival, MerkWaardig will showcase how the technique of darning, once a practical skill for repairing sheets and socks, is being reinvented. Where holes once had to disappear invisibly, darning is now decorative, colourful, and unique. It gives old textiles a second life, with a nod to the past and an eye on the future.

Willeke te Biesebeek is a passionate embroiderer and knitter. She recently contributed to fashion designer Duran Lantink’s collection, which dazzled at Paris Fashion Week and won the prestigious Woolmark Prize. For the Ambacht in Beeld Festival, she has delved into the art of sock darning to show how repairing can be not only sustainable, but also stylish.

Practical Information

• The workshop is conducted in Dutch
• Price includes materials and VAT
• Bring your own worn sock