Episode 55 : Sewing to Save the Planet with Stitched Up!

Disposable fast fashion is a huge cause of pollution and damage to the environment, but one community benefit society in Manchester has been doing its bit to help for the past decade. Stitched Up! which is now based in Stretford Mall in Greater Manchester has been rescuing unwanted fabric and teaching sewing skills in a bid to help people get more out of their clothes and slow down the damage being done to the planet.

The organisation takes donations of unwanted fabric and sells it on to sewists at a discounted rate as well as offering workshops on everything from basic sewing skills, repurposing garments, make do and mend sessions and dressmaking techniques. Their pop up shop in Stretford also hosts a regular Repair Cafe where experts in other fields come along to help people get more life out of their belongings rather than simply throwing them away.

I went along to Stitched Up! to meet their events co-ordinator Sarah Revington, she told me all about the organisation’s roots and its interesting plans for the future.

You can find out more about Stitched Up! through their website and YouTube channel.

**Listen to the Stitched Up! Episode here**

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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.

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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.

Oakley the Acorn Tree Sprite & Agatha the Fly Agaric Mushroom amigurumi patterns are available in the Making Stitches Shop

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

Episode 20 : Mapping the World in Textiles with Janet Browne, textile artist

Hello and welcome to the twentieth episode of Making Stitches. After two episodes almost exclusively focusing on crochet, our attention is turned to textiles and textile art in particular this time. Late last year I spoke to Yorkshire-based textile artist Janet Browne about her beautiful observational work which maps journeys she has made as well as townscapes, gardens and allotments.

Like all of us, 2020 and the pandemic has seen Janet’s world shrink from the freedom of long car journeys to walks around her local neighbourhood and that has had an impact on her work. She spoke to me about her love of making, how she wasn’t able to create the work she does until this particular time in her life and how she finds inspiration everywhere – even in motorway traffic signs!

You can listen to Janet’s episode here.

To see Janet’s work, please visit her website : https://janetbrownetextiles.wordpress.com/2020/08/18/janet-browne/ or find her on Instagram

Making Stitches is going to be taking a short break, but will be back soon. Please subscribe to Making Stitches on your favourite podcast app or follow Making Stitches on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter so you won’t miss the next episode.

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

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

Episode 14 : Stitching at the bottom of the garden with Cathy from Dear Emma

Many of us choose to seek a different career path after starting a family, and Cathy Emmott is no different. She took the time she spent on maternity leave with her young family to look at ways of developing her creative side rather than returning to a job in finance.

After a lifetime of being creative, she dusted off her sewing machine and began creating fabric pictures inspired by her surroundings in the Yorkshire Dales. Her business ‘Dear Emma Designs’ was born and after initially selling her work at local craft fairs, she branched into online sales and leading workshops to pass on the skills she has learned over the years.

I had great fun speaking to her about her work, her inspiration, how her business has developed over the past 15 years and about her wonderful workshop in her garden where all the magic happens.

You can find Cathy on social media as ‘Dear Emma Designs’ and here: dear-emma.com

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

One of Cathy’s beautiful lampshades inspired by the wildflowers growing near her home

You can listen to this episode by searching for ‘Making Stitches’ on your favourite podcast app or by clicking onto this link.

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