Stitches in Time began as an experiment to see if sewing could start conversations between strangers. This small experiment in 1993 turned into our giant founding project, the creation of 50 tapestries made by over 3,000 local people. Read more here.
25 years later, we now engage with over 3,500 per people year. But the support we offer is much more than just sewing. It starts with offering a safe, supportive space to develop and share a creative skill, but expands and wraps around to support the ranging needs and aspirations of our beneficiaries.
Our projects are devised with and at the request of our diverse local community. Our imaginative textile and creative arts projects focus on increasing integration, confidence and community development.
Our mission is to
provide a forum to enable culturally diverse groups to work together.
run educational programmes to raise levels of achievement.
raise levels of confidence and skill based learning for women, young people and older people.
create partnerships between individuals in the voluntary, statutory and private sectors.
• 300 hard-to-reach, BAME, long-term unemployed women with English as a second language joined one of our creative class, to improve their skills, confidence, English skills and employability.
• 100% of women said they had increased confidence and social networks from coming to our classes.
• We provided 4 weeks of arts activities for 120 children facing multiple disadvantage, through our Children in Need funded playscheme
• 23 elders facing isolation attended our weekly sewing social class, meeting with over 200 people from the local community, giving embroidery demonstrations and inviting the public to take part in a large-scale embroidery of a historic map of Stepney.
• We held a core programme of 14 creative & empowering classes each week, in 5 locations throughout Tower Hamlets.
• We expanded our Fabricworks enterprise programme. FabricWorks matches the need for London based textile/garment-manufacturing with the need for fair, supportive employment opportunities for migrant women with little employment opportunity.
• We launched our third Mini Stitches collection, a community-made childrenswear branch, designed and made by 20 marganilised women who have become members of our FabricWorks classes, provided some employment to 5 women and industry experience for 30 women who have had little or no employment experience. *GO TO ENTERPRISE PAGE
Some of our partners and funders
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