On the first Monday of every month, a corner of a Lincoln craft studio fills up with the quiet clatter of sewing machines, the rustle of fabric, and the low hum of people figuring things out together. It's called Meet & Mend It, an upcycling club hosted by Makit Takit: Lincoln's Craft Studio, and its premise is simple: bring the clothes that need mending, the wearables that deserve a second life, and any scrap fabric or embellishments you've been holding onto. The studio supplies the rest.
That supply list is part of what makes the gathering unusual. Attendees have access to sewing machines, embroidery supplies, fabric markers, a heat press, and what the studio describes as a wall of rainbow buttons. The tools are the kind of equipment most people don't keep at home, and the club is open to all skill levels, which means a beginner who has never threaded a machine can sit alongside someone who has been altering garments for years.
The event's framing is deliberate. "Let's minimize waste while community building," the listing reads, pairing an environmental aim with a social one. The two are hard to separate in practice. Mending is a solitary act at home, but it becomes something else when it happens in a room full of other people doing the same thing, trading techniques and second opinions over a hem that won't lie flat.
Makit Takit itself has been a fixture in Lincoln since March 2016, when it opened as Lincoln Craft Studio. It is owned and operated by Christy Nelson, an avid crafter and former professional craft blogger who built the business around a straightforward idea: a place where the community could come in and craft to their hearts' content. Before opening the studio, Nelson ran a craft blog featuring tutorials, product reviews, and a recurring feature called Christy's Craft Challenge.
The studio operates as a drop-in space. During open hours, anyone can walk in to craft, shop, and socialize, with projects available for all ages and no experience required. Over the years it has grown into something broader than a single craft room. It now includes a splatter room, a yarn shop, and a sewing studio, and it hosts classes, camps, and parties for kids and adults alike. Its tool inventory extends well beyond what the upcycling club uses, including Bernina sewing machines, a Glowforge laser cutter, a Brother Scan N Cut, a heat press, and woodburning equipment. Some of the specialty equipment requires a prerequisite class or certification before use, a detail that reflects how seriously the studio takes access to tools that can be dangerous in untrained hands.
Nelson has also taken the business through the kinds of challenges familiar to small retailers. In a piece for the Craft Industry Alliance, she described applying to the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program while her business was in recovery mode from 2020. She wrote about hesitating, wondering whether a craft studio belonged in a program of that caliber, and ultimately traveling to New York City to present a growth pitch alongside other scholars. The studio she described in that application was, in her words, a DIY craft studio with a splatter room, drop-in crafts, yarn, and sewing, hosting parties and camps in Lincoln, Nebraska. "We don't typically hobnob with politicians or pro athletes," she wrote. "You'll most likely find us with our hands in slime."
That self-description captures something about the place. Makit Takit is not a gallery or a boutique. It is a working studio, and the Meet & Mend It club fits that identity. The club asks participants to bring materials that are already worn out, already discarded, already past their intended use, and to treat them as raw material rather than trash. The heat press and embroidery supplies make it possible to transform a garment rather than simply patch it. The rainbow buttons make it possible to have fun doing so.
The monthly cadence matters too. A one-time repair workshop is an errand. A club that meets every first Monday is a habit, and habits are what keep clothes out of landfills. It also gives the gathering a social rhythm, a standing date for people who like making things and would rather not do it alone.
Makit Takit is located at 4750 Normal Blvd., Suite 3, in Lincoln. The studio's regular hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, and it can be reached at 402-483-4232. The listing for the October 5, 2026 installment of Meet & Mend It does not specify a start time, admission price, or ticketing requirements, so anyone planning to attend should contact the studio directly to confirm those details. What the listing does make clear is the invitation: bring something that needs fixing, and bring yourself.