Responsive Resource Series: Wool workshops- Assembly

The final edition of the Responsive Resource Series: Wool workshops took place on the 17th December and was hosted by Stitched Up, a not-for-profit Community Benefit Society who work with communities across Greater Manchester to take action on sustainable fashion. It was brilliant to work with an organisation so dedicated to sustainability and who have done great work across Manchester bringing people together to learn new skills, it felt very fitting to collaborate on the assembly of the communal wall hangings. 

We began by gathering together all of the samples made over the previous 5 workshops, where many of the previous participants came to complete the process, but also we were joined by new members who wanted to contribute to something communal. We spread all of the materials across the tables and the participants began to work together to create and collage how the wall hangings would look. We had initially intended to have one vast tapestry however through the process it was decided that 3 separate pieces would be preferable due to logistics. The stitched up team taught a number of embroidery processes on how to appliqué the wool textiles to the backing fabric, and separating into teams the participants collectively created the final pieces.

The whole process was very cathartic for all involved especially the returning participants and artists who had guided previous workshops, but really felt like a sense of community had been forged over the months the project had developed and there was a great sense of achievement. The wall hangings set to be featured in a culminating exhibition by Artist Kat Wood, Yan Tan Tethra