As if making and crafting isn’t rewarding enough, it’s always extra worthwhile when what you create might actually help someone else in some way too, doesn’t it? We were recently contacted by Concern Worldwide about their Stitch for Syria campaign, which immediately struck a cord with us. The scenes we are faced with on the news every day are truly heartbreaking, so we wanted to find out how we could help in our own, very small, but crafty way….
Concern are working with refugees from Syria who have fled to Lebanon. They are teaching them embroidery so that they can earn a small amount of money, but at the same time, the sessions are also offering them much needed emotional support. You can watch a film about the women here.
Photo: Olivia Williams
The charity want people in the UK to show their support for these women by stitching a small square of cross stitch using a pattern designed by Mr X Stitch – someone well known to those of us connected to the crafting community. They will then create a wall hanging out of the finished pieces and send them back to Lebanon as a message of support.
The 91 Magazine team have started stitching and we really hope some of you will also like to join in too! We’ve found it an extremely therapeutic activity; a welcome departure from our hectic schedules for just a few hours in the evening AND cross stitch is super easy and cheap to do! Here are the team’s attempts so far…
stitched by editor Caroline Rowland
stitched by brand and advertising manager Olivia
You can view the full details including the downloadable pattern here: Stitch for Syria – remember to share pics of your creation on social media and tag it with #stitchforsyria. We’d love to see what you stitch, so do tag us in as well!
