#stitchup

Since opening our doors in Thornton’s Arcade we’ve had the pleasure of welcoming a whole host of people through our doors.

Alongside visitors to our shop and our workshop participants, we’ve been inviting community groups to use our workshop space to learn new skills in a relaxed, friendly environment. Over the last month we’ve been teaching lots of these groups the joys of pom pom making, creating colourful, fluffy balls of fun which can’t help but bring a smile to both children and adults alike.

Now, many of you may have been put off this crafting staple because of the distant memories of cutting out cardboard rings from an old cereal box and pushing your ball of yarn through the ever decreasing hole. However, you’ll be happy to know that pom poms have been dragged into the 21st century with the invention of pom pom makers (available in our shop) which have made cardboard doughnuts redundant.

Below we shine a spotlight on two of the groups who have been learning the art of pom poms in our studio over the last month.

The first group through our doors were Grasshoppers from the East Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre. The East SILC is an outstanding school offering exciting learning opportunities for children aged between 3 – 19 with a range of complex learning difficulties. As well as teaching the children a new skill, the afternoon allowed the children to work on their social communication skills.

However, it wasn’t just the children who went away learning something new! The group also taught us some useful Makaton signs – a language using signs and symbols to help people to communicate.

We also played host to the gaggle of girls from The Shine Project. The Shine Project have supported girls aged 11-18 in LS10 and LS11 since 2013 and are passionate about girls knowing their value, providing new opportunities, building supportive relationships and on the whole doing good for young people.

We had a great time with both of these groups and are looking forward to welcoming many more!

Would you like to utilise our workshop space? Then we’d love to hear from you! Drop us an email with your questions, queries and ideas via the email below.