Sally Harper from Sharper Arts shares information about her most recent project, with a group who meet at Highfield Hall in Hall Green.
Soothing stitches – The aim of the project
To reach out to adults 50+ members of the community that may be isolated or lonely and engage them in a group activity, to enable them to feel part of a group. Sally will do this by providing weekly makes and interactions through face-to-face workshops and craft kits. These kits would be created, distributed, and workshops led by Sharper Arts. For the people not attending the workshops Sally will be offering advice and help to create the items from the kits through social media, WhatsApp and by e-mail.
The six kits/ workshops will include fabric hearts, fabric jewellery, bunting, pockets and pouches, handmade books, and fabric wreaths.
Our ‘Sip and Stitch’ session will be face to face workshops that will last an hour and will be taking place at Highfield Hall. This will allow members of the community to come together, try out a new skill and share what they have made with others. There will be 10 places available for the face-to-face workshops and a further 15 kits available for members of the community to collect to make at home.
The whole soul of the project would be to keep the community connected and have a sense of achievement in these troubling times and living through a pandemic.
Four focus areas of the project
Together: This project is all about coming together, making friends, combating isolation and loneliness, and enjoying working together to experience different ideas.
Environmental: We will be using as much recycled fabric, materials, threads, and trims as we possibly can. Materials have come from donations and from local scrap stores rather than buying new fabrics we can re purpose and redesign to use materials destined for landfill.
Up skill: Everything that we will make will be very simple. No need for a sewing machine or fancy gadget or materials, Sally has designed the sessions so that they are easily accessible to a wide range of people. The hope is that once the people attending the workshops have created from their kits, they will share with family members and friends.
Sharing: To empower and celebrate everything that is created. There is no right or wrong to this project and it would be great to share lots of different ideas that have had the same starting point. Social media and WhatsApp will enable us to share with those not attending the sessions but might want to give the ideas a go in the future.
Contact Sally for more info: 07808 988945/ sharperarts@btinternet.com
Social Media: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/soothingstitchesbirmingham/
Web: www.soothingstitches.co.uk
About Sharper Arts
Sally Harper from Sharper Arts is a community artist who has been delivering projects and workshops for over 20 years within the West Midlands. As a small organisation the work that Sally does is inspired by the needs of the community as she delivers quality projects in conjunction with other organisations such as Near Neighbours, Sampad and The Springfield Project within the local area. There is a big focus on bringing the community together to combat isolation and loneliness as well as sharing new skills and developing ideas together.