About
At Stitched Up, our aim to is teach you the sewing skills you need to create, maintain and mend your own unique wardrobe! We encourage the use of recycled fabrics, and inspire people to reduce textile waste by upcycling and altering clothes in a world of fast fashion.
We run some sewing classes for individuals at our Chorlton HQ, but we also take our workshops out to schools and other community organisations. Sewing equipment is delicate and heavy, and at the moment we have to rely on hiring vans which pushes our costs way up.
So we had a great idea: an attachable, custom built bike trailer which can store a workshop load of items securely – then we can pedal off around Greater Manchester to reach our clients and participate in loads more community events.
Our trailer will have loads of functions, including a fold-out workshop space meaning we can take our workshops anywhere. We’ve even worked in the cost for a second hand foldable bike to take it on the Metrolink!
What we’ll do:
Why it’s a great idea:
Travelling by bike is not only better for the environment but it’s also FREE!
Being environmentally friendly is of utmost importance to Stitched Up. We use reclaimed materials for our workshops and recycle any waste. It’s important to us that all aspects of our work fit with our ethos and zero-carbon transportation has been an aspiration of ours for a long time.
The bike trailer would also help us support local small businesses. We’d use it to deliver repairs and commissions to Unicorn grocery and other local clients. The trailer will be built by local craftsman Alfred Chow from reclaimed materials.
The trailer will allow us to realise the millions of ideas we have bubbling away for fun and unique workshops that we’d like to bring to all kinds of different events: from mobile mending services on the high street to clothes swaps and style surgeries in your local park!
How we’ll get it done:
Our workshops bring strangers together, and learning new skills is a huge confidence booster. Sewing, mending and altering your own clothes not only helps you create your own unique look, but also reduces the negative impacts of fast fashion.
Manchester may be a big city but it feels like a close-knit community to us thanks to the connections we’ve made with customers, friends, makers, designers, sewists and clothes lovers over the past few years. We want to spread the love of sewing and upcycling further afield in Greater Manchester and grow this community more!
As a small non-profit organisation which runs largely on a voluntary basis, this project could not go ahead without your help. However, if each of our supporters gave just £1, we’d reach our target easily. Could you pledge £1 to help create our amazing custom-built bike trailer? Help us get this show on the road!
Stitched Up x