Tia and Rebecca - Old Flame Mending
Two friends in Pittsburgh build a business around preserving beloved clothes
Rebecca (left) and Tia (right) and the Old Flame booth at a vintage market
Photos courtesy of Rebecca Harrison and Tia Tumminello
Instagram
Interview by Karrie Witkin
Instagram
What made a big visual impression on you as a child? Who influenced your style, taste, or love for clothing and textiles?
TT: My aunt had a huge influence on my appreciation for vintage fashion, prints, and textiles. She sewed her own clothes and eventually taught me how to sew. Rummaging through her attic and finding bags of vintage clothes, shoes, and textiles made a mark on me at a young age. My dad always had his own style, too, and encouraged my sister and me to be individuals. To this day, he rolls up in outfits that surprise me. My favorite photo of my dad is him at a party in a Devo suit. No one else at this party is dressed up. You go, Dad!
Looking back at my childhood photos, my style was all over the place. I think I wanted to be a model (my cousin was a model) so wearing blue pleather jackets, berets, and sequin shirts was my way to be just like her. I thought wearing bold clothing meant you were doing big things and maybe I still hold onto the logic.
RH: All of the women in my family, but mostly my mom. She’s really into fashion, art, and interior design. I grew up in a home in which my mom was constantly redecorating, redesigning, repainting rooms. As a kid I was perceptive to the changes and started picking up on the language (color and texture) and thought process she was using to describe her choices.
My mom let me dress myself from the time I could walk. Once I showed up to preschool wearing mismatched shoes (my dad was not into this look), and there’s a picture of me at age 4 wearing a babushka. When I discovered Nylon magazine, that was a total game changer for me. The fashion spreads in Seventeen and CosmoGirl felt too mainstream, and magazines like Vogue, W, and Marie Claire didn’t always have young looks that spoke to my point of view.
Rebecca’s mom, Deb, the style icon
Tia’s Devo Dad
What were your creative outlets as a child? What did you like to make?
TT: I was really into making those beaded animal keychains, friendship bracelets, and Shrinky Dinks. My sister and I also made a lot of paper crafts and were obsessed with laminating everything (with tape). I did start to sew in middle school and by high school, I excelled all the way up to Sewing Level 3.
RH: When I was a kid I liked to make paper flowers, beaded bobby pins, and outfits for my dolls. I also really loved dreaming up business ideas and roping my friends into fake businesses (very inspired by The Babysitter’s Club). I always loved fashion, and cutting out images from magazines was an obsession for a while. My aunt taught me how to knit when I was in high school and that really opened my mind to fiber arts.
What is your work background (i.e. degrees, schooling, job-training, self-teaching) and how has it informed your thinking and approach to clothing?
RH: I studied Fibers with a minor in Design for Sustainability at Savannah College of Art and Design. Since graduating in 2014, I’ve had a variety of experiences including working at a fiber mill on an alpaca farm, teaching art classes and workshops, designing costumes for a theatre collective, mixing inks for a screen printing company, working remotely as a stylist for Stitch Fix, and doing fittings at a tailoring shop. I also had an art practice of natural dye, knitting, and embroidery, so I was doing commissions and sometimes making small lines of product to sell. All of these experiences have impacted my thinking about clothing. I can’t even pinpoint what experience was the most influential; the knowledge has just all built on itself and I still have so much to learn!
TT: I studied Art Education at Temple University and stayed on the teaching path for a few years after graduation. My love of fibers just took over and eventually I found myself on YouTube wanting to learn more about textiles, natural dyes, weaving and more (the list goes on). I consider myself self-taught when it comes to mending. Starting to thrift at a young age had an impact on how I approached shopping because I rarely went to the mall. My love of thrifting carried on throughout college, and I viewed thrifting as a way to learn more about the new city I was in. It’s a great way to make new friends also: shopping secondhand attracts funny people. Teaching art to elementary aged children has its own special place in my heart.
Rebecca’s line of naturally dyed yarns
Tia’s graduation display
How did you discover mending?
RH: I honestly don’t know. Sashiko stitching was something I learned in college, but more as a decorative technique as opposed to a functional one. Maybe living with and hanging out with Pittsburgh punks and seeing them all use dental floss to patch up and decorate their clothes, but I don’t think they would call it “mending.” Mending has always been part of the clothing experience and by extension the human experience. I just don’t think it was viewed as a trend like it is now.
TT: I think it started with alterations. Hemming my pants, or bringing in a top was not always easy, so I had to be okay with wearing visible mends. It wasn’t until college that I saw the appreciation for visible mending and was quick to push myself to learn more mending styles. At first I was intimidated by darning, but now I love to do it! Would love to learn more weaving styles. I once mended someone’s compression sock.
Rebecca incorporates embroidery into a mended floral shirt.
Tia darns a compression sock.
Which artists, designers, or makers have been influential on you as an adult?
RH: Rebecca Burgess, founder of Fibershed. Eileen Fisher for sure, especially since she started her Renew line. I love what Bode has done; she has really led the charge in reclaiming gorgeous home textiles and turning them into fashion. A non-fashion, non-fibers artist that I’m really excited about right now is Wretched Flowers, this goth/cyber-punk flower arrangement and sculpture artist. Sarah Rahbar is my favorite artist who has been really influential on me; she’s an American-Iranian artist who uses textiles and cloth a lot in her work to signify nationalism, misogyny, and identity. I just love how political textiles and fashion are. And I love all of the unnamed people who have come before us; there are so many embroiderers, knitters, and sewists from thousands of years of civilization who made beautiful pieces, but we will never know their names because it was “women’s work” and not considered art. There is a lot that you can learn from looking at historic textiles.
TT: The Friday Pattern Company is a great pattern making team. The patterns are easy to follow and offer a stylish collection of pieces. I currently love The Wilder Gown pattern that can be made into a blouse or top. Friday Company also donates 5% of all proceeds to a rotating collection of top ranked charities across the world. Dusen Dusen and Lisa Says Gah are creating colorful clothes I admire from time to time. Ft. Lonesome just can’t seem to get any cooler: It is a women-owned embroidery business located in Texas that makes stylish suits worn across Hollywood, combining old and new western designs. Love to see it.
A vintage wool sweater darned with vintage wool thread.
Denim patched with Sashiko stitching.
How did the two of you decide to start a business and what is the story behind the name Old Flame?
RH: We were both working at Whole Foods, realized we liked the same things like thrifting, fiber arts, and clothes, so we became friends easily. We always wanted to collab but weren’t sure how to until Rebekah Joy, one of the owners of a local boutique, approached me and asked if I wanted to do a mending pop up every once in a while at the shop. I asked Tia if she wanted to join me, and we decided to go into business together.
We wanted to use the slogan, “We’ll fix anything but a broken heart,” and so we were spitballing names that had to do with love, Valentine’s day, etc. Tia came up with Old Flame and it made so much sense for our business model and also for us as people. Both of our sun signs are fire signs. Tia’s a Sagittarius, I’m a Leo. So the flame in our name made sense in that way too.
TT: The name came to me at the Highland Park pool I think. The expression “old flame” speaks to our desire to keep our loves close to us. Thankfully, it came to us and danced nicely with our slogan.
Old Flame signage by Tia.
What is your favorite part of mending garments?
RH: Definitely the stories behind each garment. Textiles and cloth can be such a powerful conduit for human connection, and I love hearing about a client’s estate sale adventure or the heirloom quilt that their great-grandmother made. When someone comes to us to get a garment mended, it’s not only because they care about extending the lifecycle of their piece, but also because they care about the garment itself. They’re choosing to put care, consideration, and time into the garment, which transcends the perennial cycles of fast fashion and throwaway culture. It’s a radical act that’s thankfully becoming less radical as more people are choosing a path to wear what has already been worn again and again.
Rebecca’s “before mend” and “after mend” of a vintage denim jacket for a client
TT: I love being able to help others make creative choices with their clothing. Hearing the sewing machine roar over a pair of denim and slowly making the pants strong again is such a joy. It’s nice to see which areas of the garment need to be reinforced or mended because of how it's worn daily: wallet outlines in back pockets or a worn out front pocket. We notice those special areas while mending and throw in a few backstitches for proper protection. It feels like magic. Also, seeing the before/after transformation still surprises me!
Tia’s denim repairs.
What is your least favorite part?
RH: Breaking sewing machine needles. Not having the right color thread for a garment and having to make a last minute dash to Jo-Ann Fabrics (we usually try to support our local sewing supply store Firecracker). Worrying about whether the client is going to be happy with the outcome.
TT: Telling people, “No,” if we’re unable to fix something. Most common with poorly stored thin, vintage tee shirts. Sometimes they just tear like paper and it's sad for everyone involved because who doesn’t love an old tee?
Do you have any project "fails" and subsequent lessons that you'd be willing to share?
RH: One project “fail” is a button-down shirt for which I was recently shortening the sleeves. During the whole process I made a few wrong turns that I kept recovering from, but when the person came to try on the shirt, I discovered that I had made the sleeves too short. The sleeves were perfect in length when the client had their arms relaxed at their sides, but when they bent their elbow, the sleeves slid up to their forearms and looked awkward. The worst part was that it was for the client’s wedding, which was two weeks away. In that experience, the phrase “measure twice, cut once” was absolutely reinforced. Luckily the client was really good natured about it, but I will always make the client bend their elbow when measuring sleeves from now on.
TT: I once worked on a purse strap for someone in the early stages of our mending debut, thinking it would be just a simple fix. The more I worked on it, the more I felt like I was making it worse. I ended up giving the person their money back, apologizing and offered an alternative idea. It still stings to this day to think about it and I wish I could fix anything. In time perhaps.
Your job is creative. What kinds of creative projects do you do just for fun?
TT: As a Sagittarius, my creative and educational outlets have no bounds. Fueled by the quarantine, I’ve picked up candle dipping, painting, lasso-ing and tap dance in a matter of months. Sometimes I just need to move; there’s lots of sitting in the sewing world! I love a pool dip, a hike, and the occasional road trip to see an art museum or mountain. Sometimes I help Dad make his blowfish lamps.
RH: I like to paint with watercolors and recently I picked up my flute, an instrument I hadn’t played since high school marching band. I also have an interest in flowers, herbal medicine, and gluten-free baking. I really need to make more time for other creative hobbies like this. I’m not great at either flute playing or watercolor painting, and I think that makes them all the more enjoyable. There is less pressure surrounding those projects because I don’t know all the rules to them, and there is no money and barely any audience involved. It’s just for me :)
Rebecca’s watercolor painting in progress
Tia working on a blowfish lamp
Want to contribute to the blog?
Keep Reading
