When and where:
We’ll be sewing for 24 hours from 10 am on Monday 4th September, to 10am on Tuesday 5th September (UK times).
The Big Sew Off central hub will be hosted by the lovely New Craft House in East London and we’ll be donating what we make on the day to an amazing non-profit called Give Your Best, a Vinted-style website for refugees and asylum seekers to shop on for free.
The Sew Over It team will be sewing at the central hub for the full 24 hours and will be joined by other sewing personalities for a few hours including The New Craft House team, By Hand London‘s Elisalex, Lucy from Sew Essential, Emma from Studio 7t7, Johanna from Sew Love Patterns, Claire from Beautiful Things HQ, Holly Dennett and more!
The whole event will be live streamed from The New Craft House on the Sew Over It YouTube channel and we’ll do Instagram lives throughout the day (and night) from the room and to connect with other sewing businesses and personalities around the world.
Teams from Tilly & the Buttons and Sew Me Sunshine will be sewing from their studios and connecting with us throughout the day, and Big Sew Off hubs are being organised around the country, including two led by Great British Sewing Bee alumni! Jen Hogg is setting up a hub in Dunfermline, Scotland, at Sew Yarn Crafty, and Lauren Guthrie is running one at her beautiful Guthrie & Ghani shop in Birmingham in the Midlands.
Sewing Bee contestants past and present will be taking part (more to be revealed soon) and will be connecting with the central hub throughout the day over Instagram.
How to get involved:
You can start donating to our JustGiving page straight away and throughout the 4th and 5th of September to keep us sewing. 24 hours is a long time to be sewing and your donations will really help to keep us going!
Join the sewathon from your home. Sew whatever you want and don’t worry, you don’t have to do the full 24 hours, do as long as you can. Put on the YouTube live-stream from the central hub so we can keep you company whenever you decide to join in the sewing. There will be lots of fun content on our Instagram account as well as @thebigsewoff, so make sure you’re following both.
You too can donate what you make on the day to Give Your Best, all you have to do is upload pictures and details to their website and post the item(s) when it gets chosen by a person in need. Find out more about how it all works here.
You could also raise some precious funds (no amount is too little!) by selling what you make on the day to family/friends/neighbours/colleagues/passers by, or asking them to sponsor you for some intense sewing. Donate your proceeds to our JustGiving page so it all goes in the same big pot for The Big Sew Off donation to Mind.
This year we've also created some exclusive Big Sew Off labels with our partners at Sew Anonymous! Get yours in time for the sewathon on Monday 4th September so you can add an extra special touch to what you make on the day. And the best thing? All profits from the sale of these labels also go to Mind!
Whether you sew along from home, donate to keep us going or sell what you make, you can help us raise funds to help Mind provide advice and support to anyone experiencing mental health struggles.
Follow @thebigsewoff on Instagram for all the latest Big Sew Off news!
DONATE NOW!