Sewing + feminism = this cracking feature

‘In response to the rampant misogyny of the Internet, feminists are putting “misandry” on shirts, hats and jewelry.’

The quilt made by gangs

Marvellous work by Katarina Thorsen, an art therapist who worked with rival gangs in Vancouver. They created this quilt together using painting, sketching and hand sewing, and the one rule is that nothing was censored.

She’s selling it to raise funds for Operation Sock Monkey.

Oh how I’d love to buy it.

 

Selfies in parliament.

It’s all well and good be prancing around with Instagram, but this was for a good cause – to find out more about Knit for Peace, Peace Oil and Good Gifts. Which I did. And they’ll all ace.

Matt Fountain is bossing it. Help him.

Some words from the man himself. Shelter is an amazing charity and his campaign is brilliant.

Or see more about his campaign at crowdfunder.co.uk.

Love fashion, hate sweatshops, love craft?

Get involved, then.

Craft your response to government cuts

Send a letter to your MP? That’s not the way to get their attention these days. Scope are running a marvellous creative campaign to get the message out there. Here’s what they say:

“We are a nation of people who care about fairness and freedom.  And yet today, too many disabled people are being denied social care – help to do the basics like getting washed, dressed and out of the house. Essential support to live their lives. The Government has a choice. Now. Will they right this wrong by funding social care in the upcoming Spending Review, or will they make it even worse by denying more than 100,000 disabled people the lifeline of social care?  It depends if they see people care enough to speak out. We want to show them Britain cares! Our new creative actions are designed to show MPs just that – people do care about this issue. So much so that they have spent time over a creative action. We have guides for knitting a sock, stitching  ‘I Care’ onto a sock, adding ‘I Care ‘ to a bar of soap or simply making a home-made card. By sending something personal and homemade to MPs, we’re highlighting the issue of essential social care in a unique way. What better way to remind an MP how essential getting washed every morning is, than with a bar of soap?”

You wanna be in a book?

You TOTALLY can. Support Sarah Corbett, the super-awesome craftivist, with just $15 and your name could be in the back of her first book, The Little Book of Craftivism. A perfect Christmas present, right? Visit Indigogo.com for deets.

ps. Please do ignore the static image of me in the video on the site. NOT A GOOD LOOK.

Stitched Stories: the documentary

Please watch this. It was previewed at the London Design Festival this week at the Fine Cell Work pop-up shop in London. (I chaired the panel debate after – it was a LOT of fun.)

Stitched Stories, by Rachel Tavenor, features the following: Neil, a former prisoner whose life was changed by FCW, Sarah Corbett, the founder of the Craftivist Collective, and Jessica Aldred, a FCW embroidery tutor who is also the c0-author of Adventures in Needlework.

(And if you want to read more about Fine Cell Work, read this lovely piece by Huma Qureshi on guardian.co.uk)

London Fashion Week VS Craftivism

I don’t need to re-write or summerise this press release from The Craftivist collective: read it, and

To mark the start of London Fashion Week 2012, activist group The Craftivist Collective has created hand stitched Mini Protest Banners aimed at exposing the ugly side of fashion. These eye-catching Mini Protest Banners are being displayed around London during London Fashion Week in support of the Love Fashion Hate Sweatshops campaign. The idea behind the banners is to make people think about the side of the fashion that is often too easily dismissed by the industry, in a non-threatening but challenging way.

Sarah Corbett, 28, of Battersea and founder of the Craftivist Collective says “I love the beauty and creativity that comes from fashion and I eagerly await the latest issue of Vogue every month, but I am so saddened that the workers who create the clothes we wear are often underpaid and made to work in such horrendous conditions.  We shouldn’t ignore this ugly side of fashion”.

One banner at Somerset House reads: “Lowest paid models at London Fashion Week paid £125 an hour. Majority of garment workers in Vietnam paid £25 a month”. Another, hung outside Reiss on the Kings Road (a favourite of Kate Middleton’s) reads “The ugly side of fashion: Reiss profits are £8.5 million. Reiss garment workers in Romania get 99p an hour… Why is it so unequal?”

Have you spotted any yet?

London Design Festival: what’s the power of needlecraft?

Next Thursday (20th September) I am chairing an event for a charity I have got a hell of a lot of time for: Fine Cell Work. As part of the London Design Festival I’ll discussing the power of needlecraft with Sarah Corbett, founder of the Craftivist Collective, an ex-prisoner called Neil who was taught by FCW to embroider while inside, and Rachel Tavernor, the director of a documentary called Stitched Stories that we’ll be watching before the debate.

Wanna come? Ace. There’s more details here.

Wanna read a little bit about Sarah’s involvement with the film? Then read her blog about it, here.