Where it all Began

When I founded Stitch’in Kernow CIC in 2020, I had no idea that the world was about to change. Just days later, we hit Lockdown 1. The rest of the year following was very much stop-start, and that started taking its toll on the mental health of pretty much everyone I knew. I had started the company after attending free upcycling workshops when I was recovering from my own mental health crisis and horrendous dose of Covid, post lockdowns it seemed the need for social sewing had increased massively and was more important than ever before.

And so it all started to develop, slowly and ever evolving, before arriving at a destination I’d never anticipated. The basis of our work is an outreach programme, running free short courses in conjunction with charities and CICs who support people in need, be that a mental health need or a financial need. I’d never considered a shop, but the closure of Newquay’s much loved craft shop left a hole that people were wanting filled. I stepped up, bringing with me my ethos of wanting everything we do at Stitch’in Kernow CIC to have a community basis and so I made the shop a community hub.

As with anything in the last 5 years, I’ve started small, paid for it most of it myself and asked lots of questions as to what people would like it to be. From our hub we will be running multiple workshops and building up to include all stitch-based crafts. We will sell fabric, yarn and haberdashery to fund the outreach programme and allow us to run courses here at the hub at a low cost. With volunteers teaching their skills, we can ensure a wide range of crafts, skills and creativity, so don’t be shy, if you’d love to pass on your knowledge, we’d love to hear from you!

Our hub is very small, and at the moment I am the only one running it, so we have limited capacity and hours. This will change, but for now, come and get to know us, tell us all about you and what you want and together we can build a community craft hub!

Kay