ABSTRACT

The configuration of the United States depends on the idea that people remain in a fixed location to live, file taxes, go to school. Maker/crafter movements in the United States reside at the convergence of the domestic and the modern. Domesticity implies nurturing mothers and protecting fathers; security from deterritorialization, fragmentation, diaspora. Making/crafting are depicted as response to rapid changes and unknown futures. Sewing programs have become popular across the system, ranging from ongoing knitting circles, electronic-sewing, and drop-in community mending, to sock monsters, taught as family workshops or through prefabricated kits accessible system-wide. Evinced by the shelter staff who introduced the in-house sewing machine, this demonstrates the potential importance in attending to learning opportunities in liminal spaces. Often forgotten in the educational landscape, these include the library, shelter home, and adults offering “after-hours” sewing activities.