Stitching Together

Creative and welcoming spaces for refugee women

We provide welcoming spaces for refugee and asylum seeking women in Bristol to be creative and make beautiful and useful textile based art, clothes, and homewares, while gaining confidence and making friends.

We offer a range of sewing opportunities from hand-sewing and embroidery to dressmaking, and we welcome the involvement of volunteers to support the project (no expertise needed but some sewing experience required).

We are currently running:

  • 2 dressmaking classes for refugee and asylum-seeking women at Easton Family Centre on Fridays
  • 2 weekly hand-sewing classes (beginner and intermediate levels) at our partner organisation Borderlands on Wednesdays.

We also work closely in partnership with Arnolfini and from 22nd July we will be displaying some of the ladies’ work there as part of a special exhibition called Stitching Together – please see Stories for more information.

I used to have to go everywhere with my husband or family, but now I can go by myself on buses, and I go to the mosque after the sewing class.

My English has also improved and I can introduce myself, I enjoy Fridays, it is a great day for me!

R, Afghanistan

Volunteer

If you are local to Bristol and would like to become a Stitching Together volunteer, please get in touch and come sew with us on Saturdays and weekdays. You do not need to be an expert seamstress or teacher.

Donate

We always need fabric and can make good use of your preloved sewing machines and sewing supplies. For donations or more information please get in contact.

Stitching together is supported by:

Follow us on Instagram for regular updates on our work /StitchingTogether1