Passionate Seamstress Helps Ballard Food Bank Clients

By Kara Witsoe, Volunteer

Every Tuesday from 11am – 1pm, you’ll find Jody Grage bent over her sewing machine at the Ballard Food Bank. She’s been mending clothes there for over a year. Jody began honing her craft at a young age. “I learned to knit when I was five, and I made my first dress when I was 10. We didn’t have much money, and I was small, so I learned to remake things. I’ve been mending things my whole life,” she said. Now 87, she has decades of experience helping others.

She came to the food bank after mending clothes at the Bridge Center near Ballard Commons Park, where she helped of our neighbors who are unhoused. “I really wanted to keep my connection to homeless people, and I thought about what I could do so I started mending. I still stop by the Bridge to pick up clothes that need mending and bring them here. Most of the people in the homeless community know who I am, and they’ll stop me on the street and say ‘Hey Jody - my jacket needs to be mended.’ On Tuesdays, people come here to drop off their clothes, and they know I’ll fix them.”

Seamstress Jody Grage fixes clients’ clothes and personal items every week. 

Jody offers her services to food bank guests and anyone else that needs their items repaired. She fixes jeans, parkas, jackets, backpack straps, sleeping bags, and tents. She’s even mended coats for dogs and the occasional hacky sack. “People are so glad to have their favorite things fixed. It’s one more thing that can keep their lives together,” she said.

Jody was a teacher in Seattle for many years, as well as a community peacekeeper, activist, and organizer. She’s a passionate advocate for keeping and fixing people’s possessions and is aware of the profound negative impact that throwing away items has on the environment. “It keeps things out of the waste stream,” she said. “We need to take better care of what we’ve got on a personal and economic level and for climate change. The clothing industry is extremely polluting, and my work is a little step in the right direction.”

Seamstress Jody Grage and her dog Sweet Pea welcome clients who need their clothes and personal items fixed every week. 

Clients will find Jody’s smiling face at the food bank every Tuesday from 11am – 1pm.