One day a month artist Michael Swaine can be found on a San Francisco sidewalk using his vintage sewing machine with foot pedal to mend the holes in people's clothes — all for free.

In 2002, the 34-year-old ceramics and textile artist began sewing-up pants, jackets, and shirts under an umbrella-topped cart, calling it his "Reap What You Sew Generosity Project."

A lifelong mender, he takes his mobile sewing table, on the 15th of every month, to San Francisco's neediest neighborhoods, where he offers all-day free mending, friendship, and conversation. He says those communities have the most holes to mend.

His mending is not only about the clothes — it is about the community, the people in it, and influencing a world that is so used to throwing things away.

(WATCH the video below or READ the new story, w/ photos, in the SF Chronicle)

Photo via Studio Galli Productions on YouTube / Story tip from Sally Meek