Stitch Please

Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonBlack Women Stitch 2023 Wall CalendarAmazon StoreSew Black InfoCarmen GreenCarmen Green is a stylist, an influencer, a community builder, an absolute fashionista, and a role model entrepreneur who always aims to learn not only about fashion and sewing but marketing as well. She is the founder of the Black Sewing Network on TikTok. She believes in building creative communities on social media not only by shifting the culture of Instagram to be more fun, relaxed and authentic but also by trying new platforms such as TikTok to create a really inclusive and safe space like the Black Sewing Network where women from various countries not only learn to sew but are seen and supported in order to thrive.Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation.Insights from this EpisodeHow did Carmen start sewingCarmen’s perceptions of the differences between TikTok and Instagram as a sewing communityWhy TikTok is a great place to create a sewing communityHow did Carmen achieve 5000 followers on TikTok in 30 daysCarmen’s thoughts on the aggregate value of her sewing contentDifferences between going live on TikTok and InstagramExplanations on why social media reproduce the white supremacy standard via algorithmsWhy the Black Sewing Network is much more than a sewing spaceCarmen’s opinion on the stereotype that black women don’t support each otherHow does Carmen manage to organize her social media scheduleCarmen’s advice to help us get our stitch togetherQuotes from the Show: "I think in the way that Instagram first was curating still images, you were meant to look at a picture and get all the information you needed and it was really about putting forward something that was already finished, it was like the end result, not about the process at all and what I think TikTok has done is that it has opened the door to real true learning-" - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”"I think people think Black Sewing Network is exclusionary, it's not! We welcome everybody but the goal is…to amplify and celebrate black voices in the sewing community" - Carmen Green in “Stitch Please”"There is not enough forward facing social media programming that right off the bat says hey Black women, hey Black folks, I see you and I want you to see me and we’re gonna do this thing together and support each other" - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”"There’s a huge misconception that Black women don’t like each other and don’t support each other when it's just like no…Black women have been the ones that had elevated me, pushed me forward, supported me, bought my sh*t, it's always been Black women first" - Carmen Green in “Stitch Please”"[About Black Sewing Network] I’m using my personality to push others forward, that is ultimately essentially my goal" - Carmen Green in “Stitch Please”"Don’t be afraid to fail, everybody makes mistakes regardless of how long you’ve doing something, I’ve been sewing for ten years and I’m not afraid to make mistakes publicly, don’t be afraid to be vulnerable in a safe space, Black Sewing Network is that space for a lot of people of various backgrounds…we’re not afraid to fail" - Carmen Green in “Stitch Please”Shout out to Julian Collins of Julian Creates for the name Black Sewing NetworkSee Safiya Noble's Algorithms of Oppression to learn more about why social media seems/is whitewashedStay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkCarmen GreenTikTok: Carmen GreenInstagram: Carmen GreenAmazon Store: Carmen GreenFacebook: Carmen GreenBlack Sewing Community: https://linktr.ee/blacksewingnetworkThis episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonBlack Women Stitch 2023 Wall CalendarAmazon StoreSew Black InfoLisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation.Lemarie PaschallLenmarie Paschall is Trinidadian. Her business, Rest by Len started out of a desire to promote restful habits. It became a 'thing' after making these gigantic pillows for youth in my church and community.Insights from this episode:Lenmarie’s sewing storyLenmarie’s earlier days of sewingLenmarie’s career as a financial analystLetting your creativity shineWhy it is important to take a breakLaunching Rest by LenWhat to expect at a Rest by Len eventLenmarie’s next phaseHow pillows by Len are an invitation to restProviding a lounging experience using pillowsQuotes from the show:“I think there’s something that happens when tap into our creative nature and the ability to create vs just the ability to be consumers” —Lenmarie Paschall in “Stitch Please”“I have a really strong creative gene in me that I understood and I think that’s what gave me life” —Lenmarie Paschall in “Stitch Please”“Take a break to celebrate, to take a load off, to laugh, to play games. I believe that people, they didn’t know they needed it, but once they got it, they really embraced it” —Lenmarie Paschall in “Stitch Please”“People think that taking a break, resting, I've heard like it's lazy, it's not productive. It's an easy thing to do. But I think one of the hardest things to do is to say no” —Lenmarie Paschall in “Stitch Please”“It just brings us (her partnership events) both joy because people come there and they don’t think of anything else, but just laughter, having a good time resting” —Lenmarie Paschall in “Stitch Please”“I think what is extremely helpful is knowing what fills you, knowing what brings you joy knowing the things that regenerate you and energize you” —Lenmarie Paschall in “Stitch Please”Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkLenmarie PaschallWebsite: Rest by LenInstagram: Rest by Len (@restbylen) This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon.Check out the Black Women Stitch Amazon store for products mentioned in the podcast and on socials.Buy a Black Women Stitch Wall CalendarSign up for SEW BLACK AT QUILTCON infoLisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon. Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation. Kamali ObiaguHer first craft was crocheting, which she began in 2014. A few years later she decided she wanted to learn how to sew. Once she learned about PDF patterns and all the things she could make with a sewing machine, she knew she had found her passion. That was late 2018 and since then she has been sewing nonstop and has improved her sewing skills and taken over most of her wardrobe with her makes. Insights from this episode:How does Kamali incorporate her crafts into the gift-giving and decorating aspect of the holidaysThe significance of celebrating KwanzaaImportant lessons that Kamali gives to her childrenKamali’s desire to design pajamas based on African prints this yearKamali’s plans for her crafts during the Kwanzaa seasonWhat is the message behind KwanzaaThe importance of hand-made things for KamaliThe joy that brings to Kamali doing handmade gifts  Quotes from the show: “As for decorations, our family has a different flayer on this Kwanzaa season…we still have a tree, a holiday tree but we call it the black tree, the pan African tree so its a black tree with red and green decorations to mimic the pan African colors” —Kamali Obiagu in “Stitch Please”“Kwanzaa is our time to remind ourselves how powerful we are as black people, the potential we already have and what we have for the future and to remind ourselves that we are the greatest as we are” —Kamali Obiagu in “Stitch Please”“The principles in Kwanzaa remind us what we need to do to be better within ourselves and within our community” —Kamali Obiagu in “Stitch Please”“ [About handmade gifts] I take pride in knowing that I contributed to something other than spending a whole bunch of money on a gift, it seems the roundest time it's the most expensive time of the year, and knowing that I can make something that comes from my hands…it's amazing” —Kamali Obiagu in “Stitch Please” Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa Woolfork Kamali ObiaguInstagram: Kamali ObiaguTwitter: Kamali ObiaguTikTok: Kamali ObiaguBlog: Kamali Obiagu This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry.Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon. Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation. Florence TaylorFlorence Taylor is a firm believer that “clothes to fit the body, not the body to fit the clothes". Insights from this episode:What Christmas meant for Florence’s parentsFamily traditions at Florence’s houseThings that fill up Florence’s familyWhat Christmas means for Florence and her family Quotes from the show:“Christmas for them (Florence’s parents) was not about what we wanted or what we needed, such as heavy and beautiful winter clothes, boots, snow pants, mittens, socks, and such. To adolescent children and teens, this was not exciting at all” —Florence Taylor in “Stitch Please”“I wanted my children to understand that they have a responsibility to our local community, to have the opportunity to provide amazing imprints of who they were as individual character” —Florence Taylor in “Stitch Please”“So Christmas for them (her kids), is about those little that one big thing that speaks to who they are as individuals” —Florence Taylor in “Stitch Please”“Christmas for us, whether it’s the food that we partake in, the gifts that we share, are about filling our children and the people that we love, their souls, their spirits and their bodies” —Florence Taylor in “Stitch Please”“We want our house to be filled with warmth and creativity. We want the spirit of Christmas to be about being altruistic (…) it is about community, it is about building, it is about sustaining family and traditions” —Florence Taylor in “Stitch Please”“In my family, Christmas is about sights, sounds and smells. The sounds of laughter and music, the sight of color and imagination, and the smells of how I show my love to them in terms of baking and how I wanna nourish them” —Florence Taylor in “Stitch Please” Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa Woolfork Florence TaylorFlorence’s Blog: Carissa Knit Corset Crop, Top, Mini, Dress, Midi & Maxi Instagram: Florence Taylor This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry.Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon. Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation. Martha McIntoshMartha is a proud Garifuna-American from the Bronx, NY, with strong roots in Livingston, Guatemala. She is a sewing enthusiast learning to sew for her curvy, plus-size body and others as well.  Insights from this episode:Details about her Garifuna originHer Christmas traditions growing upTransferring those traditions to her childrenChristmas traditions as a GarifunaThe influence of Garifuna tradition on her sewing Quotes from the show:“I already knew what to expect because of how my parents had prepared me, you know, here in the United States. Even though we were not able to go for Christmas every year, my mom and my dad made sure to tell me and share their memories of what it was growing up and what those experiences were that” —Florence Taylor in “Stitch Please”“Trying to figure out what my favorite aspect of our tradition is, is kinda hard because I love it all. There is nothing that I don’t love about being Garifuna” —Florence Taylor in “Stitch Please”“According to Garifuna traditions, shared generation to generation, taught to me by my grandmother, taught to me by my parents, and as I share those stories with my children, the Wanaragua dance is a reenactment of when we were fighting the British in St. Vincent” —Florence Taylor in “Stitch Please”“It is truly inspired by the culture (Garifuna). My sewing always takes and leads to the bold, that’s what speaks to me: the bold fabric, the colorful fabric. I truly credit that to a lot of the Garifuna traditional wears that we do” —Florence Taylor in “Stitch Please” Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa Woolfork Martha McIntoshWebsite: https://marthamcintosh.comInstagram: Martha McIntosh This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry.Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon. Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation. Vanessa MartinaVanessa Martina lives in The Netherlands with her husband and two boys. She was born and raised in The Netherlands. Insights from this episode:Christmas in the NetherlandsFireworks in the NetherlandsWhat Christmas was like for Vanessa growing upChristmas at Vanessa’s homeDetails about Sinterklaas and why her family doesn’t celebrate it Quotes from the show:“Fireworks are a major topic of discussion every year. Fireworks are forbidden the whole year round in the Netherlands except for New Year’s Eve” —Vanessa Martina in “Stitch Please”“The next big holiday or celebration is Christmas and we have three days of Christmas. We have Christmas eve, we have the first day of Christmas (December 25th) and the second day of Christmas (December 26th)” —Vanessa Martina in “Stitch Please”“As a child, the best Christmases used to be at my grandmother’s house. My grandmother used to demand entertainment from all her grandchildren. We used to have to prepare, a performance was mandatory“ —Vanessa Martina in “Stitch Please”“My kids love Christmas, they really look forward to Christmas. We put Christmas presents under the tree, but we don’t tell them that’s from Santa, it’s from us, the parents” —Vanessa Martina in “Stitch Please”“Sinterklaas is probably the biggest celebration here in the Netherlands. There are books of Sinterklaas, songs that are sung, there are movies of Sinterklaas, toys, all the shops are with Sinterklaas, it’s a huge thing” —Vanessa Martina in “Stitch Please”“So basically, I try to make all the Christmas outfits and New Year’s outfits for me and my children and my husband, and I sew a little bit for things around” —Vanessa Martina in “Stitch Please” Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa Woolfork Vanessa MartinaLinkedIn: Vanessa Martina This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry.Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon. Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation. Lena KingLena King is married, with two daughters, and lives in London. She was born in Ghana, and she loves to craft through sewing. She sews for garments for herself and her family. Insights from this episode:Lena King’s sewing storyLena King’s holiday traditionsSewing during ChristmasTraditions from her childhoodWrapping presents in cuts and scrapsChristmas at Lena King’s Quotes from the show:“I have tried different things but sewing is the thing that really sticks, I think with me as a craft”  —Lena King in “Stitch Please”“Every year, I think to myself, do you know what, I’m going to sew some presents for people. And I plan it in my mind, I think about who I want to sew for and what they gonna get” —Lena King in “Stitch Please”“I tend to have lots of cuts and scraps of fabric every year from my sewing. And last year I wrapped quite a number of presents up in fabric that I had and that made a nice little additional present” —Lena King in “Stitch Please”“One tradition I have brought along with me from my childhood is that of having something new to wear on Christmas day. My mom was a real stickler for that” —Lena King in “Stitch Please”“I found some black fabric which is a bit sparkly and I asked her whether she (her daughter) liked it, and she did, and I made her a very simple neat little top and she loved it” —Lena King in “Stitch Please” Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa Woolfork Lena KingLena’s Blog: Lena King's Babydoll Dress - Simple Sew BlogInstagram: Lena King This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry.Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon.Alexandra EregbuAlexandria Eregbu is a multimedia artist, writer, and educator whose practice draws from ancestral histories, lived experiences, and her own imagination to deepen her connectivity to the natural world. Her work is driven by travel, storytelling, memories (whether lived or dreamt), and surrealist activity across the diaspora— spanning from Nigeria, West Africa, the Caribbean, and her native city in Chicago. Her contributions have been presented at the Center for Afrofuturist Studies at Public Space One in Iowa City, Poets House in New York, the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, Casa Rosada in Salvador, Brazil, and Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans, among others. Her writing has been published by the University of Chicago Press, Terremoto Magazine, and Green Lantern Press. Alexandria is a current Emerging Artist Fellow with the Driehaus Museum (2020); a recipient of the 3Arts Award (2016); and Newcity Breakout Artist (2015). She teaches as faculty in the department of Fiber & Material Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation.Insights from this episode:What it means to teach sewing at art schoolHow art intertwines with social justiceHow artwork works as a form of empowermentAlexandra empowering young boys and girlsWhat textile means to AlexandraAlexandra landing and working with IndigoWhat the project ‘Finding Ijeoma’ is and what it meant for herExpressing herself through deejayingQuotes from the show:“Justice is definitely something that has become more and more central to my practice. Where that initially started was my work teaching young people between the ages of 14-19 years old” —Alexandra Eregbu in “Stitch Please”“When I first started this program, a lot of them (young boys and girls) assumed I was just like them. It really pit me in a unique position to be a friend and also a mentor” —Alexandra Eregbu in “Stitch Please”“The power of being present, is what these young boys and girls, who often times just need a listening ear, a little affirmation here and it will take them so far” —Alexandra Eregbu in “Stitch Please”“You can have a job that doesn’t require you to clock in and clock out. You can have a job that is not extracting from you. You can have a job where you create beauty (…) I think that it’s important that kids know that” —Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“I take responsibility and I think it’s a privledge to be able to know where it is you are from. And I take responsibility: that’s something I don’t really take lightly” —Alexandra Eregbu in “Stitch Please”“Some of those girls still check in with me to this today, which is a blessing: you just never know whose life you gonna touch” —Alexandra Eregbu in “Stitch Please”Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkAlexandra EregbuWebsite: Alexandria EregbuLinkedIn: Alexandria Eregbu Instagram: Alexandria EregbuThis episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Businesses in this episode (in order of appearance)Baby Cakes Bags and RagsSew Hooked On TreasuresCultured ExpressionsAfrican Stretch FabricsDru Christine Fabrics and Design at the DC Creative Suite Thanks, I Made ThemMondes ThreadsGifted Hands by Chrissy, LLCNicole Elise, LLCScraplanta Creative Reuse CenterSeams and Such Boutique, Seams and Such Boutique, LLCBeau Jé DesignsSew Creative LoungeSew Sweet AcademyLiving Water QuilterKena QuiltsGeaux Savvy DesignsKrafting Cuzzins and More, LLCWhat's She Creating EnterprisesTangular Irby, Pearl and her Gee's Bend Quilt Couture Man Sewing Bzy Peach, LLCDovetailed London Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Preorder the beautiful 2023 Black Women Stitch Wall Calendar hereEpisode 138 of Black Women Stitch, Fabric Intake ProcessBlackWomenStitch Instagram, homepage, Patreon Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon.LaTisha PorterLaTisha Porter was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, where she currently resides. She is a mother of two amazing daughters, Maiya Nicole and Makenzie Elise.​LaTisha decided to make garments for women adding later both children and men to her line of custom sewing. The choosing of her company's name, NicoleElise LLC, was developed by her desire to leave a legacy for her daughters using their middle names, Nicole and Elise. Her love for all things fashion has been since she can remember.Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation.Insights from this episode:LaTisha’s sewing storyLaTisha’s transition from a reluctant apprentice to where she is nowWhat sparked LaTisha’s interest in sewingPhiladelphia’s sewing sceneLatisha’s experience in a magazine How she overcomes the challenge of fitting another personQuotes from the show:“The feeling that I got when I got into a fabric store was just overwhelming, so it just made me want to make things” –LaTisha Porter in “Stitch Please”“The Philly sewing scene is unscripted if you will, it’s very organic. No one is scared to be themselves and present what they like for themselves. No one sews alike, but everyone is bold in what they do, that’s the major thing” –LaTisha Porter in “Stitch Please”“I try not to conform to what everyone else does. If I like a pattern, and I wanna wear that pattern, and I’m gonna make that pattern about 50 thousand times. I’m not a one and done” –Latisha Porter in “Stitch Please”“One of the things about making 50 dresses in the same style: the difference between you doing that and maybe some fast fashion house is that every single one of yours is different” –Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“A lot of times, people want something that they have seen me in. I mainly sew dresses and skirts for people” –Latisha Porter in “Stitch Please”“There’s no better time than now. If there’s something you wanna do, just do it. We have to turn the volume down on life, and listen to ourselves, and hear our hearts, and follow our path” –Latisha Porter in “Stitch Please”Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkLatisha PorterInstagram: LaTisha PorterWebsite: https://www.nicoleelise.shop/This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon.Jen HewettJen Hewett is a printmaker, surface designer, and textile artist. Depending on how you look at it, artist is either Jen’s second or fifth career. With a degree in English Literature from the University of California, Berkeley, she started her working life in education and educational nonprofits. She then briefly ran her own stationery business and took a few detours through business operations, human resources, and consulting before becoming a full-time working artist (again). She partly credits the success of her experience running her own creative business to her non-linear (but always interesting) career path.Jen’s first book, Print, Pattern, Sew: Block Printing Basics + Simple Sewing Projects for an Inspired Wardrobe, was published by Roost Books in May 2018. Her second book, This Long Thread: Women of Color on Craft, Community, and Connection, was published by Roost Books in November 2021. Her clients include Anthropologie, Cost Plus World Market, Moda Fabrics, Unilever, and Yelp. Her work has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, Uppercase, and MSNBC.Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers on Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation.Insights from this episode:Who Jen Hewett is and what she doesHow Jen’s book came to beHow Jen got into printmakingJen’s print-making processHow to believe in your work and voiceWhy Jen considers herself a textile artistThe inspiration behind Jen’s bookCreating representative workWhat to expect from Jen HewettQuotes from the show:“I design a lot of things for the sewing industry. So, I design primarily fabric and I have been doing that since 2018. I am on my third or fourth fabric collection at this point” —Jen Hewett in “Stitch Please”“I have done a lot of textile art and didn’t call myself a textile artist. I always say I am a printmaker first and everything flows from that, but I am owning it now, that I am a person who does and likes many things” —Jen Hewett in “Stitch Please”“With printmaking, you do one thing and you do it over and over again, unlike being a painter who does a one-of-a-kind one thing. A printmaker is already set up operationally, it makes sense to do the same thing over and over again” —Jen Hewett in “Stitch Please”“What’s the saying like ‘walk around with the confidence of a white man and you will get what you want’?” –Nicole Angeline in “Stitch Please”“The nice thing about the work that I do is that it is replicable. So it feels in many ways, low stakes. That I am constantly putting things out there, some will stick, some won’t” —Jen Hewett in “Stitch Please”“When I find books like this one, that are good and I like them, and I like to go back to them, because not every book you get that you are gonna go back to, but this one is nice and it's very digestible” —Ada Chen in “Stitch Please”“The overall consensus seems to be celebratory and gratitude, if I can put it in two words. Folks who are celebrating that this book exists and that women of color are having their voices centred and amplified, and talking to a variety of people. And then the gratitude which extends towards you for creating and pulling this together” —Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“I wanted it to be representative. Not necessarily everybody because that’s impossible, but to include people who are not included” —Jen Hewett in “Stitch Please”“In many ways, writing this book didn’t feel like a race because I had this really strong sense that the community would have my back. But then I had to do everybody’s story’s justice in order for people to have my back” —Jen Hewett in “Stitch Please”Resources MentionedAsian Sewist CollectiveStay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkJen HewettWebsite: Jen HewettInstagram: Jen HewettThis episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon.Kia SangriaKia Sangria is passionate about cosplay, costume creation, being a sewist, and creating costumes for black people in play.Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation.Insights from this episode:Kia meeting her husband through cosplayKia’s cosplay-themed weddingKia’s generosity and helping people in sewing and cosplayGetting recognition from brandsKia being a cosplay panelInsights into cos-fashionCollaborating with Zelouf fabricsKia’s plans for HalloweenQuotes from the show:“For me personally, my husband represents one of the more positives aspects of cosplay which is not just someone in a costume, but actually someone becoming the character” —Kia Sangria in “Stitch Please”“That (sharing information generously) is pretty rare, not a lot of folks will go out of their way, they might tell you a few things, but it takes something, I think very generous to create an entire video to show somebody something” —Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“I don’t really do the things that I do for brand recognition, but it’s really nice that folks notice” —Kia Sangria in “Stitch Please”“I am a resource; that’s what I tell people, please don’t be afraid to ask me questions cause I am here to help you” —Kia Sangria in “Stitch Please”“Color is very big for me. As someone that likes to take different types of creative control over how I make costumes, having so many different shades of blue and green, and what have you, allows me to customize my looks” —Kia Sangria in “Stitch Please”“For the type of sewing that I do, which is sewing for cosplay, it’s a little bit different from sewing a blouse, or a shirt, or a pair of pants, or a dress. There is a lot of pieces that go into cosplay making. I am looking to be that resource” —Kia Sangria in “Stitch Please”“Sewing is hard, but I think that sometimes sewing on your own can also be difficult if you do not have that experience, and you do not know where to turn to” —Kia Sangria in “Stitch Please”Resources MentionedZelouf FabricsStay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkKia SangriaFacebook: Kia La SangriaPinterest: PinterestThis episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon.Sarah HillDr. Sarah Ashley Hill is a psychologist and lupus warrior who started sewing in 2019, after learning that she had a severe form of lupus nephritis. Having had a knack for fashion from a young age, Sarah has used sewing as an articulation of her style and to suit her current lifestyle.Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation.Insights from this episode:How Sarah got started in sewingHow diagnosis with lupus led to her sewing journeySarah’s lupus journeySarah’s pursuit of creativity Sewing her grandma’s Bridgerton BallQuotes from the show:“An artist has to create, so it wasn’t an option for me to not do something with this creative energy. Even if the body was breaking down, not creating, not finding beauty or making beauty was not an option” -Sarah Hill in “Stitch Please”“It’s not going to kill me [lupus], or if it kills me, it’s gonna kill me doing what I am gonna do [sewing]” -Sarah Hill in “Stitch Please”“What you can’t do and can't control is your attitude, your outlook, the space in your heart, the vision that you have, and those who you’ve allowed to hold that vision with you and for you” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“We all get to claim our time, and we do not have to live by someone else’s calendar or somebody else’s clock” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“If you wanna do something, just go try it, and if you do not have the resources, there are plenty of organizations like sewing communities if you do not have a sewing machine” -Sarah Hill in “Stitch Please”Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkSarah HillInstagram: Sarah HillWebsite: Sewing for Myself This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon.Shasta SchatzShasta Schatz loves to create. Her favorite hobby is sewing, where she dabbles in yarn manipulation, painting, 3D printing, hot gluing, and duct taping. Her costuming inspiration is mainly from the 16th century drawing inspiration from her love of art museums. Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation.Insights from this episode:Insights on historical costumingDifferences between costuming and cosplayShasta’s journey in costumingHow art museums have inspired Shasta’s workHow Shasta found a community in costumingThe challenges she has experienced in making garmentsQuotes from the show:“I do a lot of observing when I am costuming no matter where I am” -Shasta Schatz in “Stitch Please”“Every single garment that I make, every accessory, every headpiece, every beaded pin that I put in my hair, I can probably trace it back to art history or letter that was written to a person” -Shasta Schatz in “Stitch Please”“I absolutely give out information freely, always send me messages, I will tell everybody everything because nobody told me anything when I started out after college” -Shasta Schatz in “Stitch Please”“Nobody wants to sew upholstery fabric by hand, so you put that part in the machine, but you do the linen part by hand” -Shasta Schatz in “Stitch Please”“Incorporate a little bit of hand sewing into every single garment that you make” -Shasta Schatz in “Stitch Please”“Go out and grab a big three pattern that looks close to what you want coz it’s at least gonna give you an idea of what goes into it” -Shasta Schatz in “Stitch Please”Resources mentioned:Audre Lorde’s essayThe Tudor TailorStay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkShasta SchatzInstagram: Shasta Facebook: Green Linen Shirt Twitter: ScifiCheerGirl This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon.SerenaSerena sews and collects vintage patterns and sewing machines. She enjoys creating vintage content from the 1940s-1950s for Instagram and YouTube to help encourage diversity in the vintage world and share her passion for vintage style. She enjoys dressing up and creating her vintage reality. Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation.Insights from this episode:Insights on Serena’s style as a form of costumingHow Serena describes her style and practiceHer journey in transforming her wardrobeSerena’s journey into vintage clothingSerena’s favorite vintage decadeInsights into Serena’s black vintage inspirationQuotes from the show:“I felt comfortable with myself like as a person, I’ve always been into vintage” -Serena in “Stitch Please”“I don’t think I have a favorite, I chose my style in seasons” -Serena in “Stitch Please”“I love that your creative genius is not gonna be encumbered by the historical demand of the time” -Lisa in “Stitch Please”“I think the word authentic is a word that gets absolutely beaten to death, it gets overused. There are some folks that will have you think that authenticity is a thing that you do, rather than who you are” -Lisa in “Stitch Please”“First, I am a creator. I like to dress in the past, but I like to leave room for creativity” -Serena in “Stitch Please”“I think 100 percent historical accuracy is not realistic” -Serena in “Stitch Please”“I try not to be too inspired by people that I can’t talk to and relate to, and usually that not gonna be celebrities. I try and find inspiration in everyday things and people” -Serena in “Stitch Please”“I try and find inspiration from all types of people in all walks of life because I don’t want to live in this tunnel of monotony” -Serena in “Stitch Please”“Never believe you are ever done learning” -Serena in “Stitch Please”“Don’t underestimate the power of just trying because you really don’t know if you are capable until you actually try” -Serena in “Stitch Please”Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkSerenaInstagram: SewrenaYouTube: SewRena This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

THank you SEW much for helping get 5-star reviews, 500 total Patreon supporters, and 500k downloads by the end of 2022!Black Women Stitch PatreonDownload Stitch Please episodesShare 5-star reviews hereWant to participate in Stitching Holiday Traditions? Want to say "hi"? Leave a direct voicemailLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon.Olugbemisola Rhuday-PerkovichOlugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich is a crafter, a blogger, a sewist, and the author of several children’s books, including Operation Sisterhood, It Doesn’t Take A Genius, 8th Grade Superzero, Two Naomis, Saving Earth: Climate Change and the Fight For Our Future, as well as the picture book Someday Is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-Ins, and Mae Makes A Way: The True Story of Mae Reeves, Hat and History Maker. Her most recent release is The Sun Does Shine: An Innocent Man, A Wrongful Conviction, and the Long Path to Justice with Anthony Ray Hinton and Lara Love Hardin. She is the editor of the We Need Diverse Books anthology The Hero Next Door, and has contributed to several collections.Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation.Insights from this episode:Olugbemisola’s start of her sewing journeyOlugbemisola’s childhood and growing up with black dollsHow Olugbemisola is bringing dignity to black folks through her books and amplifying their voicesInsights on affirming black women and how they can claim their space in the worldThe power of black creativityThe connection between writing and sewingThe process of narrating an audiobookQuotes from the show:“When you make something yourself and put that creative energy into something, it makes it even more special” -Olugbemisola in “Stitch Please”“Dignity is not something you give, dignity is something you affirm. Everybody is born with dignity, everybody has it, but not everybody gets to have it affirmed” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“I think a lot of times the focus is on the struggle and the striving and not enough on just the beauty, creativity and the art” -Olugbemisola in “Stitch Please”“You have a relationship with every book or every story that you read, and it’s a very personal relationship” -Olugbemisola in “Stitch Please”“We are a people, and a people does not throw their geniuses away” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“Telling your own story and telling the story of your people and having those stories was just so important to me from a very young age” -Olugbemisola in “Stitch Please”“Be generous with yourself, be kind to yourself, do not feel that your process has to reflect anybody else’s ” -Olugbemisola in “Stitch Please”Resources Mentioned:In Search of Our Mothers’ GardensStay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkOlugbemisola Rhuday-PerkovichWebsite: Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich Instagram: Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich Twitter: Olugbemisola This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Black Girls Sew Projects by Hekima Hapa and Lesley Ware available hereJoin the Black Women Stitch Patreon.Hekima HapaHekima Hapa is the founder of the nonprofit, community organization Black Girls Sew in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Not only is Hapa the founder, but she is a fashion designer and a business owner of Harriet’s by Hekima (HbyH), a Harriet’s Alter Ego company. Hapa is investing her over two decades of experience in fashion styling, fashion merchandising, sewing, and designing to teach courses for Black Girls Sew to leave the youth excited about education in sewing, design, and entrepreneurship. She has also co-authored the book Black Girls Sew with Lesley Ware. Lesley WareLesley Ware is an author, educator, entrepreneur, and personality who has written five books: Sew Fab: Sewing and Style for Young Fashionistas, My Fab Fashion Style File, How to Be a Fashion Designer, 101 Ways to Love Your Style and Black Girls Sew.Lesley’s passion for inspiring youth began when she earned her degrees in Elementary Education and Public Administration and continued when she orchestrated national programs for institutions like the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Girl Scouts of the USA.She has created fashion education programs for the Parsons School of Design, Metropolitan Museum of Art with the Costume Institute, Pioneer Works, Museum of the City of New York, New Visions, New York Times Student Journeys, and other institutions.Insights from this episode:Insights into what led Lesley and Hekima to write their bookHow they chose the fashion icons to interview in their bookHow denim is connected to black ancestryInsights on how they bring in fashion and black cultural knowledge Lessons Hekima and Lesley learned while writing their book during the pandemicThe lessons they hope people will learn from reading their bookQuotes from the show:“I talk to people all the time about how easy it is to upcycle denim and how easily and readily available it is, but it is not something easy to produce” -Hekima Hapa in “Stitch Please”“It is really important that we think about it [denim] historically: it being connected to cotton, and how our ancestors being here” -Hekima Hapa in “Stitch Please”“Every time that I get an opportunity to do anything, especially working on books, in my head I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to do this again, so I give it everything that I possibly can” -Lesley Ware in “Stitch Please”“The logistics of writing a book in the pandemic present challenges and opportunities” -Lesley Ware in “Stitch Please”“I think the book itself is like a love letter to Black girls, and that's something that I really love about it” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“To get your stitch together, you’ve got to write it down” -Lesley Ware in “Stitch Please”“Just keep trying even when it seems impossible, it doesn’t seem like it’s gonna happen: whether it’s stitching and you are making a garment, or it’s really like stitching in life” -Hekima Hapa in “Stitch Please”Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkHekima HapaInstagram: Hekima Hapa Twitter: Hekima Hapa Facebook: Hekima HapaLesley WareLinkedIn: Lesley Ware Instagram: Lesley Ware Twitter: Lesley Ware This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Support Black Women Stitch on Patreon. Bianca Springer was born and raised in The Bahamas, now lives in Pearland, Texas, with her husband and two children. She learned to sew as a child, but says motherhood cultivated her passion for the craft. Representation matters and Bianca always tries to honor that through her writings. Recently she wrote REPRESENT! an embroidery book that looks like you! It celebrates diversity with more than 50 embroidery motifs of people in a wide array of skin colors, body shapes, and natural hairstyles. No need for painstaking design alterations—you can simply jump right in and start stitching. These inclusive embroidery projects represent every kind of beauty; see yourself and your loved ones in these designs. Expand your embroidery and sewing skills while increasing your appreciation of others! Celebrate beautiful YOU!Lisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation.Insights from this EpisodeWhat does the word “represent” means to BiancaWhy does Bianca feel a strong urge to represent the black community in an unapologetic wayBianca’s trajectory writing down her designs and patterns on blogs and magazinesHow was Bianca’s process to write her bookHow Bianca’s character has been put to test in the industryBianca’s thoughts on community buildingBianca’s “Represent!” book and its framesWhat would Bianca say to a person that is looking to “get their stitch together”Quotes from the Show: "[About the meaning of represent] It means authentically showing off as your true self or allowing people into your space so they can do that as well" - Bianca Springer in “Stitch Please”"This is me stepping into a space, I am not whispering, I am not easing in, I am not trying to stand back and wait for you to acknowledge me, I feel like in my craft life and in the craft spaces I have been in as an introvert, I had been happy to do that" - Bianca Springer in “Stitch Please”"We are the ones we have been waiting for" - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”"As someone who is trying to encourage others into craft, I want people to understand perfection is not the goal so if your work is less than perfect framing it elevates it. I’m highlighting the imperfection" - Bianca Springer in “Stitch Please”"I say this book [Represent!] is for everyone, not about everyone" - Bianca Springer in “Stitch Please”"Try something different and ask themselves two questions beyond their resistance, whatever thing is stopping you from advancing, ask yourself why and then why not and once you begin to explore that, you’re gonna get some stitches together" - Bianca Springer in “Stitch Please”Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkBianca SpringerWebsite: https://thanksimadethem.comBlog: https://thanksimadethem.blogspot.com/Instagram: Bianca SpringerBook: Represent! Embroidery - C&T PublishingPinterest: Bianca Springer Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Join Black Women Stitch on Patreon. Tracy Perry is a self-taught artist with 30+ years of experience in sewing and art to create unique dolls using fabric or clay. She's been creating and selling dolls since 2008. Tracy was the owner and operator of ImaginePerryDolls and TerranDollmaker. Tracy endeavors to make dolls that show the many colors and uniqueness. She strongly believes that everyone should have access to a doll that looks like them or inspires them. Her dolls have appeared in an issue of Art Dolls Quarterly. And she has a sincere fan base that includes Virginia-based doll clubs, and collectors from around the United States.Host: Lisa Woolfork is an associate professor of African American Literature and Culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, the fiction of Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black Lives Matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers on Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she became a founding member of Black Lives Matter Charlottesville. Actually, she is active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the College Fellows Program to reshape the undergraduate general education curriculum.Insights from this episode:How Tracy got started in doll makingInsights into the different types of dollsDifferences between soft sculpture and cloth dollsTracy’s button-jointed doll experience and the lessons she learnedTracy’s favorite tools in doll makingTracy’s process in doll making and choosing the personality, shape, outfit, and characterQuotes from the show:“Plushies can be a novelty, they can represent lots of different things: they can be abstract, they can be representational” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“Don’t overcommit if you are a solopreneur” -Tracy Perry in “Stitch Please”“You love dolls, you love doll making, and that love was very much tested and it stood its test but you also got to learn lessons about boundaries, about protecting the peace of your creative life” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“My number one tool is my hemostat” -Tracy Perry in “Stitch Please”“If you have something that is working for you, don’t change” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“One of the things I love about your dolls is how they look like you” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“I just try to do what I like, I was just bending myself backward trynna say ‘people don’t like this, people don’t like that,’ then I would find out that people did like it” -Tracy Perry in “Stitch Please”“I think too often when women, especially Black women, wanna do something that’s self-directive, self-determined, self-reflective, it’s seen as selfish, which is absolutely false” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“The work that comes from your hands should reflect the deepest essence of who you are, as well as from the inside and outside” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkTracy PerryWebsite: Seams Like TracyInstagram: TR PerryYouTube: Seams Like Tracy Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Host: Lisa Woolfork is an associate professor of African American Literature and Culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, the fiction of Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black Lives Matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers on Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she became a founding member of Black Lives Matter Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the College Fellows Program to reshape the undergraduate general education curriculum.Guest: Chris Cooper is the owner of Studio Tissue8 and is a Master Seamstress with over 30 years of professional experience specializing in bridal/wedding gowns. Having started sewing for dolls, Chris has transcended all her fears and become a master seamstress and shares her gift of sewing through her store, Studio Tissue8, which offers various services, including its signature Valet Service for Alterations.Insights from this episode:Insights into Chris’ workHow Chris is sharing her gift of sewing with other peopleChris’ journey into sewingHow she came up with the name Studio Tissue8Her journey running Studio Tissue8Chris’ commitment to sharing her gift of sewingHow sewing allows her to think and process her problems Chris’ fear of getting started on her journey and how she overcame itQuotes from the show:“I distinctly remember thinking that it was a gift [sewing] because it was never hard for me, it kinda just came to me” - Chris Cooper in “Stitch Please”“It was gifted to you so you wanna offer that and amplify that so that other people can have the benefit from it, but also know how to do it themselves as well” - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“There is something about that fabric in my hand, and the sound of the sewing machine that just puts me at total ease” - Chris Cooper in “Stitch Please”“I don’t think ‘I can’t do’ it’s just that I have never done it before” - Chris Cooper in “Stitch Please”“Something that I tend to think about fear is that sometimes your victory is on the other side of fear” - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“You’re never gonna do anything that you wanna do unless you get yourself out of this fear thing” - Chris Cooper in “Stitch Please”“Fear is what pushes you, fear is what makes you do things that are out of your comfort zone. If you don’t have fear, then maybe something is not right” - Chris Cooper in “Stitch Please”“When I have fear, it sometimes helps me to get the additional information and to find possibility models” - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkChris CooperWebsite: Studio Tissue8 Instagram: ​​Studio Tissue8 Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Lisa Woolfork is an associate professor of African American Literature and Culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, the fiction of Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black Lives Matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers on Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she became a founding member of Black Lives Matter Charlottesville. Actually, she is active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the College Fellows Program to reshape the undergraduate general education curriculum.Teju Adisa FarrarTeju is an environmental equity consultant, speaker, and creator/host of the Black Material Geographies podcast. She centers on climate, racial, and distributive justice by sharing ideas on regenerative practices and co-collaborative design. Teju uses a social geographies perspective encouraging us to think about space, place, and identity. Teju’s lens includes sustainable fiber and fashion systems, urban ecologies, nature, history, activism, and art. She supports people, collectives, and organizations who are mapping / making alternative futures.Insights from this episode: How to reclaim the traditions that are valuable art and are valuable to usHow do we look at geography in relation to humans who identify as Black across the planetStrategies to help people get economic independence and freedom so that they have to borrow from people and be forever indebtedDetails on how to alleviate people from poverty and give them a platform for economic freedomWhy it is important to learn where the different textiles come fromHow understanding the importance of making things for ourselves or where they come from can shift how we consume thingsQuotes from the show:“We need to know how to make things with our hands because that’s how we can support ourselves and live outside systems that don't support us, that don’t value us and in many cases are violent to us and oppress us” - Teju Adisa Farrar in “Stitch Please”“I don't ever underestimate the joy and creativity that is involved in Black folks getting dressed, and especially Black women” - Teju Adisa Farrar in “Stitch Please”“Black joy is our birthright. We live within systems of oppression that convince us constantly to devalue the things that we do, that are not connected to capitalism and patriarchy” - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“Freedom isn't a secret; it is a practice” - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“When you get dressed, and you look the way you wanna look, and you wear the colors you wanna wear and texture, and the style, you feel good” - Teju Adisa Farrar in “Stitch Please”“What you wear is like your armor” - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“Nature is constantly guiding us and resisting us and our efforts, and we can learn a lot about how the natural world operates” - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“Sustainability is how do we keep things in circulation for as long as possible” - Teju Adisa Farrar in “Stitch Please”“Sustainability is if we cannot use it in the way we have been using it, can we use it in a different way and can we find a way to make it work, can we find someone who knows how to use it in a different way” - Teju Adisa Farrar in “Stitch Please”“It just the human thing to do, to give people agency, dignity, leisure pleasure” - Teju Adisa Farrar in “Stitch Please”“Making is one of the most important pleasures of human life” - Teju Adisa Farrar in “Stitch Please”Resources Mentioned: Black Material Geographies PodcastStay Connected:Black Women Stitch PatreonLisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkTeju Adisa FarrarWebsite: tejuadisafarrar.comInstagram: @misstejTwitter: Teju Adisa-FarrarFacebook: Teju Adisa-Farrar Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

EMERGENCY SUPPORT REQUEST: Sew Hope Community Sewing Room, a Black woman led nonprofit sewing studio was recently damaged by severe flooding: 16 inches of water saturated the newly opened venue. Please donate to the Go Fund Me or directly to the project. CashApp$SewHopeSTL If financial support is not possible, Sew Hope is accepting donations of machines and fabric. About the episode:Lisa Woolfork is an associate professor of African American Literature and Culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, the fiction of Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black Lives Matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers on Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she became a founding member of Black Lives Matter Charlottesville. She is active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the College Fellows Program to reshape the undergraduate general education curriculum.Angela FranklinWith a BA in Art from Xavier University in Cincinnati and her MFA from Bradley University, Angela Franklin-Faye has exhibited her works both throughout the US and internationally.She has lived abroad since 1997 and, since 2007, has divided her time between Senegal and the United Arab Emirates. This international experience has resulted in a body of work that has encouraged her to chronicle the experiences of people from the diaspora worldwide. Her works are presently featured in the national exhibition of Contemporary African Art for the 13th DAK’Art Biennale, along with the Dialogue in Black and White Exhibition at the Charleston City Gallery. In addition, Paris Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, The Art Hub-Abu Dhabi, The Renwick Gallery - Smithsonian Institution, Ohio Craft Museum, and Musee Boribana - Dakar are just a few spaces that featured her work. Works by Franklin-Faye are in the corporate collections of Atlanta Life Insurance Company, The NationsBank, Arco Chemical, and Household Finance. In 2013, she earned a second Master's Degree in Online Education and Leadership Management and credits this with having an even greater impact on her artwork. She is the owner of Chez Alpha Books - a bookstore and academic resource center in Dakar, Senegal.Insights from this episode:Angela’s beginning of her sewing journeyAngela’s adaptability to the fashion and fabric worldHow she has been able to thrive as an artist based on her geographyInsights into her study of art at Xavier UniversityInsights into slavery and black history in regards to Ohio/Kentucky borderInsights into the stained glass initiativeQuotes from the show:“I made a rule that if I am going to be here, let me find a fabric that is found here, let me not rely on African fabric in the Pacific Island, or if I am in the Middle East, let me rely on the fabric that I find there” -Angela Franklin in “Stitch Please”“It’s really incredible because what that [adaptability] allows you to do is to both grow as an artist and to be connected to the community in which you are living” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“I used to enamel a lot, do a lot of couple enameling and glass fusing, and my whole passion right now is to go back to it” -Angela Franklin in “Stitch Please”“When I do this series of work, I said to everyone that it’s not about the trauma of slavery, it’s about the contributions that they made, economically because they would build the prairie” -Angela Franklin in “Stitch Please”“Slavery is not black people's shame. Black people should not be ashamed of having been enslaved. The shame is in white people. The shame is in those folks who could compromise so much of their own beliefs to enact the greatest crime against humanity” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“The stain glass initiative seeks to acknowledge and perpetuate the diversity of experience and reflection that is needed to envision a better common good” -Angela Franklin in “Stitch Please”Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkAngela FranklinInstagram: Angela Franklin Facebook: Angela Franklin Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Lisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, the fiction of Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black Lives Matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers on Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she became a founding member of Black Lives Matter Charlottesville. Actually, she is active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the College Fellows Program to reshape the undergraduate general education curriculum.Support the Black Women Stitch Patreon (swatch cards are available for Patrons to download)Stay Connected:Website: Blackwomenstitch.orgInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa Woolfork Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Cultured Expressions on the Stitch Please podcast: episode 52 and episode 78. Find Lisa Shepard Stewart on social mediaWebsite: www.CulturedExpressions.comFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/CulturedExpressions/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/culturedexpressions/YouTube: www.youtube.com/CEFabricVideos/VideosBlog: www.culturedexpressions.wordpress.com Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Host: Lisa Woolfork is an associate professor of African American Literature and Culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, the fiction of Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black Lives Matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers on Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she became a founding member of Black Lives Matter Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the College Fellows Program to reshape the undergraduate general education curriculum.Marcia SpencerMarcia Spencer is a style & fashion lover, designer, entrepreneur, and stylist based in Raleigh, Carolina. Marcia loves to incorporate trends into the season and loves the 70s vibes. She has a background in fashion design and retailing and runs the Keechi B Style blog. She has designed and marketed a line of children’s clothing as well as luxury bags and is currently a blogger on the Mood Sewing Network.Insights from this episode: How to pursue your passion and follow non-traditional careersWhat it means to have a fashion-driven selling philosophyHow to transition from one business to another and still maintain the passion that you started withDetails on the inspiration behind the fashion pieces that Marcia createsStrategies for getting inspiration from others and tailoring it to fit your styleQuotes from the show:“I never thought about it [sewing] as something I could do, make it a career” - Marcia Spencer in “Stitch Please”“Fashion has always been a part of me” - Marcia Spencer in “Stitch Please”“I am driven by fashion; I make clothes that I want to wear. Why make something that you are not going to feel fabulous in?” - Marcia Spencer in “Stitch Please”“Your selling is very fashion-forward and fashion-driven” - Lisa Woolfork, Episode #4“Fashion does push the envelope” - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“Everybody has their own style, and sometimes people haven’t defined their style yet” - Marcia Spencer in “Stitch Please”“You know how to sell; you can make it” - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“The selling process is both a skill and an art, and you’ve been able to use your sewing machine to bring those together” - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“I think the best way to go about it [fashion] is to look at it as inspiration, not as to copy it, but to be inspired by it” - Marcia Spencer in “Stitch Please”“One of the great things I like about buying a pattern is that we can buy the same pattern and it's not going to turn out the same” - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”“What you wear speaks volumes” - Marcia Spencer in “Stitch Please”“I am very passionate about wearing the inside on the outside” - Marcia Spencer in “Stitch Please”“I like to be versatile when I go about my pieces… I like to get the most about my outfit ” - Marcia Spencer in “Stitch Please”“The biggest thing to get your stitch together is to look at inspiration from other Instagramers and other stitchers, and creators and get inspiration from them, but be yourself” - Marcia Spencer in “Stitch Please”Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkMarcia SpencerWebsite: Marcia SpencerInstagram: Marcia SpencerBlog: STYLE BLOG | Keechii B Style Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Mahdiyyah Muhammad is a self-taught Artist, Fashion Designer, and Instructor who began designing at a very young age, breathing new life into discarded clothing. She draws inspiration from her practice of fabric alchemy; with an ability to take recycled, bio-based materials and turn them into one of one works of wearable art that boost healing properties. Taken from her research of naturally occurring materials and the effects they have on the body, each design is created with intentional fabric carrying high vibrational frequency like linen, cotton, wool, and organic cotton. Knowing the body in its optimal health has a vibrational frequency of 100, and fabrics like linen and wool contain an extremely high frequency of 5,000, she carefully selects her materials with this in mind. Mahdiyyah speaks more about this in her educational fabric workshops.With a passion for sharing her knowledge about fabric textile origins, healing qualities, and sewing education, she offers sewing classes, educational healing fabric workshops, and project-based sessions. Her upbringing in East Orange, NJ rooted her values in the importance of community, and creating opportunities for others who may not easily be afforded them. Other initiatives include mentorship opportunities for youth, and collaborations with various community organizations to provide sewing and healing fabric workshops for their members.Insights from this EpisodeHow Mahdiyyah would characterize her sewing storyHow Mahdiyyah built her creativityAt what point in her life Mahdiyyah decided she wanted to make design her only careerHow Mahdiyyah made all her pieces without a sewing machineWhy doing her own outfits was a special moment for Mahdiyyah in order to build her confidenceHow Mahdiyyah founded her own businessWhy "repurposing textile" is fundamental forMahdiyyah’s businessHow did Mahdiyyah pair fashion with teaching and community buildingHow Mahdiyyah’s experience with an artist in Barbados influenced her purpose with fashionWhat challenges did Mahdiyyah face in her collection of natural materialsHow Mahdiyyah’s childhood influenced her desire to help under-resourced communities through fashionWhat is fabric alchemyHow does vibration in fabrics worksWhat Mahdiyyah would say to help someone to "get their stitch together"Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkMahdiyyah MuhammadWebsite: https://www.mahdiyyah.co/LinkedIn: Mahdiyyah Muhammad Instagram: Fabric AlchemistFacebook: Mahdiyya Mbugua Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Lisa Woolfork is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black Lives Matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers on Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she became a founding member of Black Lives Matter Charlottesville. Actually, she is active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the College Fellows Program to reshape the undergraduate general education curriculum.Stephanie Dean is a vintage-style handmade doll with a modern twist, she wears beautifully colored dresses that are fashioned to appeal to today’s modern child. She has always loved dolls, and her mother, an elementary school teacher, went to great lengths to find African American dolls for her because her mother felt it was important for Stephanie’s self-image to have a positive reflection of herself during playtime. Actually, she is the founder of Cinnamon Annie Dolls where she always seeks to make her dolls representative of her and the black race taking into account the nostalgia of the classic dolls her customers remember from their childhood as well as the modern styling that a contemporary little girl would like. Stephanie has lived in Georgia all her life, she is a keepsake doll and believes that dolls can be everything that you want them to be, the dolls can be played with, used for decoration or collected. Stephanie is married to Tony and is the mother of two young adults, Joseph and Danielle.Insights from this EpisodeStephanie’s childhood and her relationship with dollsWhy Stephanie’s mother wanted her to have black dollsWhy dolls are important for a child's imaginationHow times have changed for black representation in mediaHow Stephanie got involved in AfroBlack WomenHow Stephanie got the opportunity to expose her dolls in the Time SquareHow her company started to growHow the last quarter of 2021 was life-changing for StephanieWhat would Stephanie say to a person that is looking to “get their stitch together”Quotes from the Show: "A doll can become a friend, you know they’re always there, the doll can become anything that the child wants it to become…it can become a playmate, it can become a tool for learning" - Stephanie Dean in “Stitch Please”"I think we have better success, a more sustainable success when we work in a community than when we are individually scrabbling against each other…there is abundance, there is enough" - Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”"Get back to basics and do some things and improve productivity" - Stephanie Dean in “Stitch Please”"Follow your enthusiasm…learn about it, love on it, do the best as you can because if you decide to turn this into a business you are going to have to be enthusiastic about it because it's a lot of work" - Stephanie Dean in “Stitch Please”Stay Connected:Lisa WoolforkInstagram: Lisa WoolforkTwitter: Lisa WoolforkStephanie DeanWebsite: https://www.stepstitches.com/Instagram: Stephanie DeanFacebook: StepStitches Pinterest: Stephanie Dean Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Dr. Plummer's websiteStitch x Stitch conference Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Deborah's gorgeous is shop, Our Fabric Stash, located within Seattle's Pike Place Market.This show was supported by Afros and Audio, (instagram, facebook) and by BerninaBernina ambassadors and past Stitch Please guests include Aaronica Cole and The Corny Rainbow, Nefertiti Griggs Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Jonelle DawkinsMomo con. Blurred con closet cosplay. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Laquana's Blue Cup Shop is on Etsy, InstagramThat Black ChicLaquana mentions a sewing class, Skirt Skills and follow-up classes with Brooks Ann Camper . Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Find out more about Neci Love HarmonTikTokInstagramYou TubeWebsite Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Resources Mentioned:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mondes_threads/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mondesthreadsWebsite: https://mondechisenga.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkL2FJlQ6U3NmPPtc10Z9hg Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Dru Christine's website is druchristine.com.Dru is also on Facebook and Instagram @druchristineBlackWomenStitch Instagram, homepage, Patreon Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Learn more about DC Frocktails on the website and Instagram page. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

May 14th Is Black Fae Day. Learn more about this delightfully Black festive holiday from its founder and principal organizer Jasmine LeFleur and Kia Sangria, a 2022 ambassador. Both are visionary joy practitioners within the Black Fae community, a platform and annual event that increases the positive visibility of Black people in mainstream fantasy. These women are joining the Stitch Please podcast to share their journey with cosplay, what influenced them to get involved in making costumes, and how they turned their creative passion into an annual event for other Black cosplayers. This opened up the conversation as we talked about the perceived barrier of entry to cosplay, how a few stitches allow cosplayers to be whoever they want, and why the spirit of cosplay and spreading black joy through Black fantasy and fairytales are so powerful.We also touched on how they provide a community that welcomes and supports Black people in their quest to be their most authentic selves. They also spoke on the play and wonder that adults indulge in through cosplay and the importance of leading by example so kids know they can be and do whatever they want.This episode is an absolutely beautiful story of creativity and community and how the energy and love that goes into making costumes can be a part of a larger pattern. Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletter Check out our merch here Leave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode. Join the Black Women Stitch Patreon Check out our Amazon Store Stay Connected: YouTube: Black Women Stitch Instagram: Black Women Stitch Facebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Aja Barber’s website, instagram, facebookAja Barber’s book, Consumed: The Need for Collective ChangeAja intentionally has only one sponsor, Vestiaire Collective and provides special access to her Patreon supporters.Aja mentions Fashion Revolution, the world’s largest fashion activism movementWhat should everyone watch? Aja says “The Story of Stuff!” BlackWomenStitch Instagram, homepage, Patreon Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Find Shams el-Din Rogers' on InstagramShams mentions reading Vicki Robin,Shams volunteers at Creative Reuse Toronto.Lisa and Sham mention Aja Barber and her book Consumed Aja is on the podcast next week!Lisa mentions a poem by Francis Ellen Watkins HarperLisa also mentions Fannie Lou Hamer's 1971 speech "Nobody's free until everybody's free."Shams mentions Shaun King's vertically-integrated, Black t-shirt company, A Real OneBlack Women Stitch's NEW webpage, patreon Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Follow Nefertiti Griggs on socials!@thecornyrainbow and @nefertitihaidera (photography page) on IG Meaningful sewing events: Find out more about these on her website!Pretty Girls Sew Rippin Aint Easy challengeRare Oscar De La Renta vintage Vogue pattern (met President Obama and Michelle)Beyonce 2016 Grammy bridal gownHer 2019 vow renewal gownBlack Magic Collab with Spoonflower and J.ClappArticles:Featured on the cover of Sewn magazine's 2021 October issue 10 Black Sewists you should follow- SpoonflowerCreating Black Magic - Spoonflower Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Alexis Galloway on InstagramSew Sweet Academy website, Alexis' Etsy ShopIt's Sew Sweet to Learn Facebook groupMy Pretty Perfect Planner by AlexisBlackWomenStitch Instagram, homepage, Patreon Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

e bond’s webpageStitch Please Episode 113 "e bond's GLYPHS: A Fabric Collection of Black Women Writers"Stitch Please Episode 93 "Threads Across Time" with Sarah BondLisa's teaching partner mentioned Tobiah Mundt interviewed in Episode 44: Tuft Love: Felt(ing) Emotions with Tobiah Mundte bond’s Glyph fabric collection from Free Spirit fabricsSarah, e and Lisa discuss Lucille Clifton's poem, "Reply" as well as My Monticello by Jocelyn Johnson One of e bond's newest artists books is in a show RIGHT NOW. Details below:Adaptation: Artist Books for a Changing Environment, Bauer Wurster Hallat University of California, BerkeleyCheck out e bond's online Creativebug classes:Words Inform Images: 31 Prompts Using Writing as Inspiration for ArtUnconventional Book StructuresPersonal Map Making - A Daily Mixed Media PracticeUpcoming for Sarah Bond at Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center:Play with Color and Greyscale with Sarah Bond - Schweinfurth Memorial Art CenterAll the Elements: Designing Quilts with Foundation Piecing with Sarah BondAND upcoming for Sarah Bond at the Madeline Island School of the Arts: Piecing Perspectives–Medallion Madness!Y'all, ask your LQS (local quilt shop) to carry GLYPHS or find it at online retailers including Victoria Findlay WolfeHere are the garments Lisa plans to sew with GLYPHS: Zadie jumpsuit, Adrienne Blouse, Valerie DressBlackWomenStitch Instagram, homepage, Patreon Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Dr. Diana Baird N'DiayeInstagram @dndaiayegorgeous website: https://ndiayedesign.myportfolio.com/Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited or HARYOUMamie Phipps Clark and Kenneth ClarkCyril deGrasse Tyson led anti-poverty programs inside and outside of governmentZelda Wynn Valdes, American fashion designer and costumerArthur Mitchell, American ballet dancer, choreographer and founder of ballet companiesGladys KnightEartha Kitt, American singer, actress, comedian, dancer and activistDiahann Carroll, American actress, singer, model, activistMae West, American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, and singerJohn Whittington Franklin, historianThe Will To Adorn, African American Dress and the Aesthetics of Identity and at the Museum of the African DiasporaThe Crown ActThe DuSable Museum of African American HistoryInstitute of Texan CulturesMadaha Kinsey-Lamb, Mind Builders Creative Arts CenterCrafts of African FashionCamila Bryce-Laporte, "Black In The Land of the Piscataway"Kibibi AjankuMichael Twitty, TastemakerJames Beard AwardBlackWomenStitch Instagram, homepage, Patreon Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Kianga Art webpage, instragram, facebookReginald LewisLaVerne Hall, Holiday Festival of Black DollsCrowationsInternational Black Doll Show and Sale, PhiladelphiaFaith RinggoldGee's Bend QuiltersRead Until You Understand; the Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature, Farah Jasmine GriffinWalter Dean MyersOf Water and The Spirit, Maliodoma Patrice Some Palm Beach Culture Council Artist Innovator FellowshipGwendolyn Aqui-Brooks, Mixed Media ArtistLauren Austin, Fiber Art and Art QuiltsChristena Cleveland, God Is a Black WomanKevin Quashie, Black Aliveness, or A Poetics of BeingThe Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black CultureThe Nap MinistryBlackWomenStitch Instagram, homepage, Patreon Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Resources:Episode 12 of Stitch PleaseSocial Justice Sewing AcademyStitching Stolen Lives: Social Justice Sewing Academy Remembrance Project bookThe Yarn MissionNational Quilting Museum (a.k.a. Paducah)Latifah SaafirLibs ElliottKevin E. Quashie, "Black Alivesness or, A Poetics of Being"Places to find Sara's book events and the Remembrance Project banners: Pacific International Quilt Festival (PIQF), Santa Monica Pop-Up Shop, October 11, Quilt Con in FebruaryC&T PublishingBisa Butler, ArtistBlackWomenStitch Instagram, homepage, Patreon Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Patricia TurnerCrafted Lives: Stories and Studies of African American Quilters, Patricia Turner. January 2009Paremiologist-one who studies proverbsAlan DundesRalph EllisonGee’s BendClaudia Rankine, CitizenChimamanda AdichieGladys-Marie FryDeborah GraysonStitched from the Soul, Slave Quilts from the Antebellum South, Gladys-Marie FryChurch's Chicken mythUnderground Railroad Quilt CodesHidden in Plain ViewAshley’s Sack (book All that She Carried, by Tiya Miles)Roots: The Saga of an American Family, Alex HaleyBisa Butler Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

A House Called Hue, Destiny Brewton Destiny's AMAZING webpageYou can find her on facebookor on InstagramBlack Women Stitch NEW webpage, patreon Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast

Kristine Mays website, instagram, facebookEldridge Cleaver, writer and political activist''Our crown has already been bought and paid for. All we have to do is wear it.'' -James BaldwinLisa shared her exploration of “Forecrafting:” using one’s limited resources to craft something that will save and preserve your future- whether you’re there to see it or not. inspired by Joshebed, biblical Moses’ mother, and fueled by Sally Hemmings, an enslaved Black girl (she gave birth to her first child by Thomas Jefferson at 14) and woman (half-sister to Jefferson's wife) who "negotiated extraordinary privileges" with Jefferson for the eventual freedom of her children by him. Cecile Lewis, teacher, natural dyer, quilter, and artistLisa mentions Kristine’s show “The Black Woman is God: Divine Revolution”Kristine’s upcoming installation can be experienced at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, during the Orchid Daze February 12-April 10, 2022BlackWomenStitch Instagram, homepage, Patreon Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletterCheck out our merch hereLeave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode.Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonCheck out our Amazon StoreStay Connected:YouTube: Black Women StitchInstagram: Black Women StitchFacebook: Stitch Please Podcast