Stitch N' Time project report

STITCH N' TIME: PROJECT REPORT

3 MONTH SNAPSHOT

Kirsty Frankland

Stitch N' Time is a weekly sewing group which engages women in a wide range of creative textilebased projects designed to promote community connectedness.

Regular sessions combined with projects made for local organisations maintain the sense of community both within and outwith the group.

“What I love about this group is that they are selfless – they do all this for others, it’s all about the community.”

J group member

AIMS OUTCOMES & OUTPUTS The overriding aim is to facilitate positive well-being and to help participants feel better connected to their community through regular participation in creative activity.

For us, positive well-being includes increasing confidence and self-esteem, increasing social connectedness, positive relationships and sense of purpose within the community.

Our primary outcome matches our aim, that participants experience increased confidence and self-esteem and feel better connected to their community due to regular participation in creative activity.

Our secondary and tertiary outcomes include facilitating bridges across social divides so our participants feel better connected to different sectors of society. this will be achieved through facilitating meetings with artists, makers and designers who will work with participants to co-design sessions tailored to their needs. And improving the links between our participants and local businesses and organisations, to heighten participants sense connectedness and sense of purpose within the community.

Our outputs include delivering 30 weekly sessions to a core group of up to 15 women, with an expected 20 women to engage with the project over the course of a year.

METHODOLOGY We are using adapted versions of the Standard Impact Questionnaires to measure the impact that engaging with the project has on participants levels of confidence, self-esteem, sense of connectedness and purpose within the community. This will provide us with quantitative data which will be collected at the mid and endpoints of the project.

We also conduct reflective feedback sessions, which combined with regular sessions observations and discussions with participants, provides us with rich qualitative data from the participants own perspective.

RESULTS Three months is too short a time-frame to effectively evaluate the impact of this approach on individual participants wellbeing, however, information gathered from group discussions during the sessions has given a powerful insight into what participants gain from being a part of this group and what aspects they most value.

What follows is a brief overview of the group and its members, giving some demographic data and an outline of the activities the group has engaged with so far. This is interspersed with quotes and comments and finally a short case study of one of the participants.

THE GROUP Having been on the go for more than 10 years, Stitch N' Time is one of WHALE Arts longest running and most popular groups. There are currently 15 regular group members and a further 7 on the waiting list.

There has been a total of 13 sessions since the group started back in September with an overall attendance rate of 67%.

“Thank you – without the funding we couldn’t exist. It’s such a fantastic thing that happens in here for these women.”

D group leader

So far, the group have engaged in a range of projects including making heart-shaped cushions for breast cancer patients at the Maggies Centre, an appliqued and embroidered quilt that the group all worked on together; they have made story bags, and a fantastic Old McDonald Had a Farm mat cushions and toys for the creche at WHALE Arts, bottle holders out of shirt sleeves for their annual tombola and an incredible advent calendar which they recently gave to the fire brigade at our local fire station.

“What we get from it?

Companionship, sharing skills, learning new skills, getting out the house, keeps our skills fresh.”

Various group members

“It’s great – a tremendous resource.””

A group member

VISITING ARTIST'S Toni Dickson currently delivering a project called Fork in the Road has worked with the group to delivered two sessions. The first, leaf dying where she showed the group how to take leaves and using natural dyes such as onion skins, transfer the imprint of the leaves onto fabric - a technique that many of the group were keen to explore.

The second sessions was a bookbinding workshop where Toni helped group members take the leaf printed fabrics and bind them into hand made books.

Many of the ladies really enjoyed the opportunity to learn a completely new technique that they could bring in to the work they already do.

CASE STUDY: J'S STORY “I came here (was referred) from Wester Haven at the Health Agency. I hadn’t been out of the house for 10 years. I was getting to grips with anxiety and agoraphobia. They (Wester Haven) looked for something that would mean something to me and recommended that I come here.

These ladies welcomed me and have been like a family, they’ve been a proper lifeline. Debbie was an inspiration as a teacher and with her pushing me and also some support from David Henderson at WHALE I got myself into business. I couldn’t go out to work but I was able to work from home and this gave me a proper sense of myself again.

Of all the things I’ve managed to do, this is the one thing that I’ve hung on to – coming here has been the foundation of my therapy – this group has saved my life."

"Groups like this should never have to worry about funding so I want to say a huge thank you to the funders.”

CONCLUSION & FINAL REFLECTIONS During the first 3 months of Stitch n' Time's current funding block, group members have come together and engaged in a wide range of creative activities/projects, most of which have been donated to organisations in the wider community.

The aim of the project is to use this combination of regular creative activity, combined with fostering improved links between the group, local businesses and organisations to facilitate improved wellbeing and help participants feel better connected to their community.

“This group is all about interacting with people; with the community we’ve done projects for nursery groups, hospitals, schools and more. It’s really important that people can approach us and ask us to make something specific for their group for whatever specific reason.”

K group member

Our other goal is to facilitate bridges across social divides so our participants feel better connected to different sectors of society.

The group members have all stated that being part of this group has had a positive impact on their overall wellbeing. Many attribute this to the friends and positive relationships they have developed in the group and the sense of community that has developed between them.

They are incredibly passionate about the work they do for organisations in the wider community and are keen to develop new links. These collaborations enhance opportunities for individuals and the group as a whole to develop a wider sense of purpose which also has a significant impact on participants wellbeing.

The group has made some steps toward facilitating bridges across social divides and members are keen to explore other opportunities in the new year.