Episode 77 : Threads of Protest with Dr Gemma McKenzie

My guest for this episode of Making Stitches Podcast has a background in law and human rights and a passion for crochet too. Dr Gemma McKenzie is a researcher in the Midwifery Department at King’s College London specialising in maternity rights and obstetric abuse. She has decided that in order to raise awareness about her work in the field of maternity rights, she is going use crochet (and knitting) to help her.

Next year, Gemma is holding an exhibition called Threads of Protest in Southport in the North West of England and in central London too, to raise awareness about her work and yarn is at the centre of it. Gemma is collaborating with yarn artists to create works focusing on different aspects of abuse but is also asking for anyone who wants to join her, to send crocheted or knitted squares which will be used as part of a yarn bomb within the exhibition.

Some of the granny squares Gemma has received already

The granny squares can be of any type, any colour, any yarn and use any design as long as they measure approximately 15 x 15 cm or 6 x 6 inches. They can be sent to:

Threads of Protest
PO Box 239
Liverpool
L37 8YU
UK

To find out more about Gemma’s work and the Threads of Protest Exhibition, please check out her website. Gemma can also be found on Instagram.

To join the mailing list for the Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The theme music is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops .

The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

You can support Making Stitches Podcast with running costs through Ko-fi.
Making Stitches Podcast is supported by the Making Stitches Shop which offers Making Stitches Podcast merchandise for sale as well as Up the Garden Path crochet patterns created by me & illustrated by Emma Jackson.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston

My podcast inspired granny squares for Granny Square Day 2024

Episode 69 : Why Sewing Matters with Barbara Burman

Hello and welcome to Making Stitches Podcast!

My guest for this episode is the historian and writer, Barbara Burman, whose latest book is ‘The Point of the Needle – Why Sewing Matters. Barbara, a retired academic from the University of Southampton and the University of the Arts, spent more than 40 years teaching and researching the history of dress and textiles.

In her latest book, Barbara takes an in-depth look at the social and cultural significance of sewing drawing on contemporary voices as well as historical research. In it, Barbara asks what people are sewing, why they are motivated to sew and why people choose to mend?

This was a fascinating chat which covered lots of different aspects of Barbara’s work – I hope you enjoy listening!

You can find a link to ‘The Point of the Needle – Why Sewing Matters’ here.

To join the mailing list for the Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The theme music for Making Stitches Podcast is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops .

The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston.

Episode 65: Deck the Halls with the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity

One of the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity ‘Deck the Halls’ decorations

This time on Making Stitches Podcast, I want to share a great initiative which is happening in my home city of Manchester. Homelessness is a problem all year round in towns and cities across the world, not just here in the UK and it’s a complex problem to solve.

Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity was set up after our Mayor, Andy Burnham was elected. He chose to donate a percentage of his monthly wage to combatting rough sleeping across the city, and it was thanks to that the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity was born. The charity doesn’t just offer somewhere for people to stay, it also helps in other ways with food, clothing and help to get people off the streets.

Fran Darlington-Pollock, Chief Exective of the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity and my guest for this episode of Making Stitches Podcast.

Each year, the charity looks at new ways to raise funds to support it’s ‘A Bed Every Night’ campaign, and in the run up to Christmas there’s a concerted push to bring in more funding. It costs £30 to pay for one person to have somewhere safe to sleep for the night and to receive the wrap around care on offer.

This year, Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity is calling on knitters and crocheters to help them in partnership with Black Sheep Wools. They have a range of knitting and crochet patterns for sale as well as yarn kits to make decorations. The proceeds from the sale of the patterns will go to the charity as well as 10% from the sale of every yarn pack and, if you would prefer to make a £30 donation through the Black Sheep Wools website, you will be gifted all the patterns for free, and that entire £30 will go to fund a bed for the night.

I spoke to Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity Chief Executive, Fran Darlington-Pollock, who told me why she was calling on knitters and crocheters to help them this year.

You can find out more about the work of the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity here. If you would like to join the ‘Deck the Halls’ campaign and buy patterns or yarn packs, you get them from Black Sheep Wools.

#DeckTheHalls23 #WeDontWalkOnBy #GMMayorsCharity

To join the mailing list for the new Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The theme music is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops .

The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston.

Making Stitches Podcast was a finalist in the Independent Podcast Awards 2023

Episode 39 : Celebrating Freedom & Crafty Resolutions for 2022 : The Making Stitches Podcast Review of the Year 2021 (Part 2)

I hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas! I have one last gift for you this year before the clock strikes midnight again and we begin another year. Following on from the Happy Stitchmas episode published on Christmas Eve, this is my Hogmanay offering with a celebration of some of the freedoms I was able to enjoy this year as well as hearing about peoples’ crafty New Year’s Resolutions for 2022.

Among my guests for this trip down Memory Lane are Crochet Sanctuary regulars Diane & Sam who I met on my visit to the Crochet Sanctuary in Cheshire in Spring. There’s the hugely inspiring Sarah Corbett from the Craftivist Collective and Evie & Gemma from the Manchester Flock of Canary Craftivists which took place in the city centre in July. Former BBC Europe Correspondent, Mary Jane Baxter, spoke to me about her amazing crafty road trip around Europe and Scotland in her camper van – Bambi, plus there was my fabulous trip across the Pennines to the Yarndale Festival in Skipton in September.

You’ll also be able to hear from a couple of the ladies from Black Sheep Wools in Warrington, crafter Kate Blackburn who makes beautiful handstitched cards, Christine Perry aka Winwick Mum and someone who has helped me a great deal this year; Amanada from Mrs G Makes.

You can hear the episode here!

My thanks to everyone who has spoken to me for Making Stitches this year and made it a year to remember for the podcast. My thanks to you too for listening! Happy New Year – I hope 2022 is a good one for you.

My guests on this episode were:
Sam & Diane who I met at The Crochet Sanctuary
Sarah Corbett from The Craftivist Collective
Evie & Gemma from the Manchester Flock of Canary Craftivists
Tracy & Lucy from Black Sheep Wools
Kate Blackburn from Katie Did This UK on Etsy & Instagram
Mary Jane Baxter author of Sew on the Go
Yvonne, one of the volunteers from the Yarndale Festival
Juey from Juey Jumbo Crarft Tools
Carole Rennison from Hooked by Design & Yarndale Festival Organiser
Christine Perry from Winwick Mum
Amanda Greenhough from Mrs G Makes Etsy Shop & Mrs G Makes You Tube Videos

The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.
The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

Holly, Ivy, Hope the Snowdrop
& Flora the gardener

A Flock of Canary Craftivists – Bonus Episode

The Manchester Flock at Manchester’s Central Library

Hello there! Although Making Stitches is supposedly on a summer break, here’s a little bonus episode all about a project I’ve been involved with recently which began with a previous episode of this podcast. Back in May, I released Episode 25 of Making Stitches which featured a chat I had with Sarah Corbett from the Craftivist Collective. In it, she told me about her plan for a summer of ‘craftivism’ featuring flocks of Canary Craftivists staging public displays of crafting to raise awareness of environmental issues ahead of this year’s Cop 26 climate summit in Glasgow.

Galvanized by Sarah’s infectious enthusiasm, I found myself co-ordinating a small flock of canary craftivists in Manchester. This episode is the story of how it came about and how it went. Blighted by the ‘pingdemic’ our flock was small but, dare I say it(?), perfectly formed and we were able to engage passers-by in our craft and the message behind it. I do hope you enjoy listening!

You can listen to the episode here.

The Manchester Flock stitching at the Emmeline Pankhurst statue

If you would like to find out more about the Canary Craftivists and the Craftivist Collective please visit the Craftivist Collective website, Instagram or Twitter.

The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

You can support Making Stitches Podcast with running costs through Ko-fi.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston.

Episode 25 : The Art of Gentle Protest with Sarah Corbett from The Craftivist Collective

A chance conversation about a small embroidery project while on a long train journey led Sarah Corbett to unite her interest in craft with her passion for activism. Sarah says that at the time of that conversation, while working on a cross-stitch kit during a 5-hour-long train trip, she was feeling burned out by her job as an activist. But she realised there was a way to marry the mindfulness of stitching and other crafts with getting important messages across and supporting the under represented in society.

A Craftivist Collective mini banner in situ
photo by Robin Prime

Sarah now single-handedly runs The Craftivist Collective and has engaged thousands of crafters from around the world (including the inspirational change-maker Malala Yousafzai) in creating their own acts of gentle protest on a range of issues from climate change to gender equality and the campaign for a living wage.

Malala Yousafzai engaging in slow & mindful activism at a Crochet Collective workshop photo credit : Craftivist Collective

You can hear Sarah’s episode here alternatively search for Making Stitches on your favourite podcast app.

Craftivist Sarah Corbett
photo by Jonathan Cherry

My sincere thanks to Sarah Corbett for speaking to me for Making Stitches Podcast.

Graceful activism: bespoke hankerchiefs for retail company board members to encourage their company to be as ethical as possible
photo by Sarah Corbett

You can find out more about The Craftivist Collective and sign up to The Craftivist Collective newsletter here.

Jenny Eclair with Sarah Corbett
still from BBC4 Craftivism show January 2021

Craftivist Collective on Instagram
Craftivist Collective on Twitter

How to be a Craftivist by Sarah Corbett
photo by Jonathan Cherry

Craftivist Collective mini fashion statement workshop 2017
Photo by Elliott James

The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

You can support Making Stitches Podcast with running costs through Ko-fi.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar.