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Soft Armor: Woven Sweatshirts & Jackets (Nov. 8 & 15)

$95.00

2-Day Workshop: November 8 & 15, 2025
12:00 - 4:00 pm

Instructor: Rae Heller

Time to upcycle! Pick out your own jean jacket or sweatshirt that needs some shine and create a one of a kind upcycled, woven, wearable art piece!

I love creating these pieces and want to share this upcycling technique that I learned from Radha Weaver (social media: @sewingthroughfog). Weaving is meditative and the feeling of woven fabric bolsters; these garments feel like soft armor in times when we need both softness and protection most.

In the first session we will learn how to prep sweatshirts and fabric for weaving, weave and pin fabric in place. The second session we will learn different finishing options. Depending on skill level, I will encourage students to work either big or small: my goal is to ensure each student walks out of class feeling shiny wearing their new piece and also feel confident making these for their loved ones!

Materials:

  • Fabric, thread, cutting implements, and sewing machines will be provided, but participants are encouraged to bring their own.

  • Students must bring their own jean jacket or sweatshirt to upcycle!

This class is open to students ages 16+
Skill Level: 2-5, some sewing machine experience is helpful.

Limited scholarship funding is available for this class. To apply for financial aid, please fill out our Scholarship Application.

Click here to view our Terms & Conditions.

Skill levels: 1 - Beginner; 2 - Beginner/Intermediate; 3 - Intermediate; 4 - Intermediate/Advanced; 5 - Advanced

2-Day Workshop: November 8 & 15, 2025
12:00 - 4:00 pm

Instructor: Rae Heller

Time to upcycle! Pick out your own jean jacket or sweatshirt that needs some shine and create a one of a kind upcycled, woven, wearable art piece!

I love creating these pieces and want to share this upcycling technique that I learned from Radha Weaver (social media: @sewingthroughfog). Weaving is meditative and the feeling of woven fabric bolsters; these garments feel like soft armor in times when we need both softness and protection most.

In the first session we will learn how to prep sweatshirts and fabric for weaving, weave and pin fabric in place. The second session we will learn different finishing options. Depending on skill level, I will encourage students to work either big or small: my goal is to ensure each student walks out of class feeling shiny wearing their new piece and also feel confident making these for their loved ones!

Materials:

  • Fabric, thread, cutting implements, and sewing machines will be provided, but participants are encouraged to bring their own.

  • Students must bring their own jean jacket or sweatshirt to upcycle!

This class is open to students ages 16+
Skill Level: 2-5, some sewing machine experience is helpful.

Limited scholarship funding is available for this class. To apply for financial aid, please fill out our Scholarship Application.

Click here to view our Terms & Conditions.

Skill levels: 1 - Beginner; 2 - Beginner/Intermediate; 3 - Intermediate; 4 - Intermediate/Advanced; 5 - Advanced

Instructor: Rae Heller

Rae Heller (b. NYC 1988) is a visual artist primarily working in large scale quilts. Rae graduated from Simmons College with a BA in Arts Administration and Art. Rae’s work focuses on pattern, play, and process and beginning in 2021, turned toward textiles. Rae hopes to create work with sustainability in mind; using repurposed fabric, all scrap fabrics, by-products of the art making process become new ways to create.

After the unresolved death of a friend in 2022, Rae's art process aims to hold the immense pain and paradoxical aliveness of grief. Celebrating and struggling with duality is held in the durable softness of quilts. Rae has pieces in private collections across the US and in Europe, and has been an artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center (2024).

When not making art, Rae works as an American Sign Language Interpreter, makes all natural deodorant, plays canasta and other team sports, and gardens. Rae lives and creates on the unceded land of the Abenaki people, Wantastegok, or Brattleboro, VT.