Things We Love

Stitching Together is a Bristol community craft initiative from local charity Bridges for Communities. They reduce loneliness and isolation by bringing together local volunteers and refugee and asylum seeking women, of all ages and nationalities, to share sewing skills, practice English and build friendships.

They provide 360 hours of classes across the year, including hand stitching and machine sewing, benefitting 222 women at a range of venues across Bristol. The project is led by job share team Sima Gul from Afghanistan and Dawn Giles from Bristol and supported by an amazing team of volunteers.

To read more and get involved read on.

Jo Andrews uploaded the first Haptic & Hue podcast in September 2020 and it was about the legendary Anglo-Trinidadian textile designer, Althea McNish. Since then she has been happily creating Haptic & Hue episodes about the often forgotten role textiles play in our lives and our communities. She is a handweaver who weaves mainly with natural fibres on either an eight-shaft or a four-shaft loom. In a former life, she was a reporter and senior correspondent for Independent Television News of London.  

Listen

This Stroud mending and darning circle at Atelier at Trinity Rooms was the first affiliate to be twinned with BTQ’s original MMM.

Street Stitching is an act of gentle disruption that demonstrates the pleasure and necessity of garment repair in areas of fast fashion chains where consumers are already thinking about replacing or adding to their wardrobe.

In high streets across the UK and around the world, people form lines of chairs along the centre of their high streets to sit and mend. Each Street Stitcher has a hand made chair-banner with the hashtag #stitchitdontditchit

Tanja, of Linladen acclaim, runs her studio from Studio Flax – she collects colours, textures and the odd, weird and wonderful. Studio Flax also doubles up as a shop, with stock constantly changing, both with seasons and with the materials they find.

They currently have a great new stock of 60’s linen embroidery threads, mid century Gutermann silk, Danish Flower thread, natural dyed yarn from France, antique and vintage haberdashery, excellent post- and notecards from Fotofolio, The Pattern Book and our popular Treasure Boxes which are collections of different fine threads in vintage linen thread boxes.

Well worth the pilgrimage – just check website for opening times. www.studioflax.co.uk

No Frills Knitting is a one-woman-band run by Meg, a very proud knitting dork.

No Frills Knitting is a Bristol-based knitting supplies shop, stocking all kinds of highly useful knitting notions. All the items stocked by No Frills Knitting are tried and tested by a group of highly experienced knitters.

They also run workshops on various knitting techniques (from beginner to advanced) throughout the year.

Ottowin was founded by Lucy Lloyd & Oliver Cross in 2016.

Born out of a love of making, contemporary design and a great respect for precious natural materials.

They make their hand made shoes from their shop on Gloucester road and are also home to a curated group of local goods from independent sustainable artists & designers, making it easy to shop ethically in every aspect of your lifestyle from footwear made in store, to clothing, beauty & homeware. *Dress by OB Wear

 Tamay & Me have created versatile unisex jackets, homewares and accessories with the belief that a piece of cloth or clothing can have a positive impact and that we should be proud of what we wear.

Tamay taught Hannah how to make Mien embroidery in 2008, just as she taught her daughter and as her mother taught her. Tamay and Hannah sat together for three months working on one tiny piece of embroidery.

The two became great friends and ever since have been working to raise awareness of the Mien skills.

Made My Wardrobe’s mission is to bring inspiration and resources to an international community of clothes makers and give people the skills they need to make quality garments that will last and be loved

Lydia’s studio in Portland sq, Bristol, offers sewing patterns, kits and workshops.

SWE Fibreshed are building a community of fibre and dye growers, processors, makers and manufacturers across the South West to start a conversation about how we can produce more home-grown textiles and garments in a more healthy, resilient and regenerative textile ecosystem.

the Fibreshed ethos goes beyond sustainability, to something that is truly regenerative and it does this by considering the whole system in which fibres, textiles and garments are not only produced, but also how they worn and how they are disposed of.

Fashion Revolution was founded by Carry Somers and Orsola de Castro in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013. They have grown to become the world’s largest fashion activism movement, mobilising citizens, brands and policymakers through research, education and advocacy.

They are a global movement of people who make the fashion industry work – Designers, academics, writers, business leaders, policymakers, brands, retailers, marketers, producers, makers, workers and fashion lovers.

Botanical Inks is a natural dye house offering a gentle and kind way of working with colour, in harmony with the natural systems of this World.

Founded by Babs Behan, a natural dyer and specialist of non-toxic natural dyeing, Botanical Inks offer natural dye production services for brands whilst also producing their own soil-to-soil productions which demonstrate the possibility of scaled-up holistic, soil-to-soil systems, including the Bristol Cloth project and the English Cashmere project.

Textile Arts Center (TAC) is a NYC-based resource facility dedicated to raising awareness and understanding of textiles through creative educational programs for children and adults.

At TAC, they unite and empower the textile community and advocate for the handmade by providing accessible, skills-based classes that reinvigorate engagement with traditional crafts. Techniques like weaving, sewing, and dyeing are practical, connective, and process-driven—common denominators around the world.

Since 2009 TAC has used its platform and collective power to increase visibility of fibre arts and foster connections forged through sharing knowledge of textiles with one another.