* Creative Lives Awards 2022 - Scotland Winner *

Find out more about this group in this short video, or read about them below:

Based at Mossvale Community Church in Paisley, Sewing2gether All Nations: Caring, Creating, Connecting is a grassroots community-based organisation for members of the refugee and asylum seeker community, primarily supporting women who wish to practise English and build new friendships.

The group started providing creative workshops with just two volunteers in 2018 and now has six sessional workers, ten volunteers and around 80 members participating in sewing and creative activities each year. They also provide advocacy and practical assistance, including a travel empowerment programme, food pantry and library.

Paisley is known as 'the town that thread built', so they took the opportunity to reflect on the rich textile heritage of Scotland and that of ‘New Scots’, in partnership with Journeys in Design: Our Linen Stories, with an exhibition of hand sewn ‘Millie dolls’. These represented textile workers from all over the world, and the legacy of their grandmothers, mothers and sisters who passed their sewing skills down from generation to generation.

“As we sewed, stuffed, and made bespoke outfits from upcycled textiles for our Millies, we gathered stories from across the globe of our memories of family and homelands from Afghanistan to Venezuela," says Corinne Watt of Sewing2gether All Nations. "This allowed participants to share positive and personal memories held dear to their hearts. We also discussed creative traditions and techniques, for example chinchorro, shisheh, gele, chādor and abayas. Our Exhibition of over 30 completed dolls was hosted in Paisley Central Library during the Refugee Festival Scotland in June 2022.”

[Pictured L to R: Jemma Neville, Creative Lives; Corinne Watt, Sewing2gether All Nations; Gabi Cullen, Sewing2together All Nations; Jill Miller, Creative Lives]

Learn more:

• Website www.sewing2getherallnations.com
• Facebook @sewing2getherallnations
• Instagram @sewing2getherallnations
• Youtube Channel @sewing2getherallnations