Founded in July 2018 by Lisa Woolfork, the project grew from the wake of her trauma as an Black Lives Matter-Charlottesville organizer in the summer of 2017. She was locked in the church across the street during the white supremacist torch march and attack on August 11, 2017. The next day, she was at the deadly intersection of the car attack on August 12, 2017.
During that devastating summer, Lisa lost her sewing community as well. The white sewists and quilters she had known for and sewed with for decades rejected her–bitterly, abruptly, and completely–when she tried to bring her whole self as a Black woman and activist into what she thought was her community.
That taught her that not only does racism present itself even in communities where Black people are welcome on the surface, but that Black women need spaces where we can convene and connect as our whole selves.
Delve into the inspiring journey of Black Women Stitch, a movement born from resilience and empowerment. Explore the pivotal moments and milestones that have shaped this community into a vibrant hub for sewing, activism, and the celebration of Black creativity.
Discover the timeline of Black Women Stitch, from its poignant origins in 2018 to its present-day impact, fostering a space where Black lives, voices, and skills flourish through the art of sewing and the pursuit of social justice.
BWS started with an IG post
Idea sparked for podcast
Attended PodinLive NYC hosted by Tea with Queen and J. She participated in a Sidewalk Summit with a group of women of color, including Danielle Desir Corbett and Lee Uhera. Lisa had a list of a equipment to buy.
Sat down with AD Carson to learn the very basics of audio production. Lisa learns that “track” does not mean “song.” She learns about the layering and puzzle piece movement of sound visually expressed.
Lisa composes the Stitch Please podcast theme song using GarageBand and her iPhone, which she places next to to the sewing machine to record the rhythmic sound of stitching a seam. She uses this sound as a track combining it with vocalizations and beats that remind her of music playing on the radio when she was a kid.
Lisa meets with James Dornberg, who she calls the secret brother of Ben Dornberg who she has known for a while without knowing he had a brother, so why the secrets? Anyways, James The Secret Brother is good at audio design and teaches Lisa to seamlessly fade sounds in and out.
Lisa releases the trailer for the Stitch Please podcast.
First episode on Back to School (interviewed her kids!)
The first Blacker Friday episode promoting Black owned sewing/crafting related businesses.
10K downloads
Started Marking Tools series
First Birthday episode: Lisa is interviewed by Jill Bates Moore
December 2020 – 100k downloads
First BWS Wall Calendar. Art by Svenja Lyon, who later won an award for the illustrations.
Started Sewing Spaces series
Started Fat Quarter series
Ranked top .5% podcast globally
Presentation about Artist-Activists Reimagining Justice with Aram Han Sifuentes
Live event in Seattle, WA
Live event in Chicago, IL
Nominated for Ambies Best Indie podcast
Essence magazine’s 13 Black Podcasts to Listen to This Fall
Ranked top .5% podcast globally
Sew Black 4 day event at QuiltCon
Nominated for Best Theme Song, Sonic Bloom Awards
Nominated for People’s Choice Best Podcast Award
200 episode celebration!
Since 2019, Black Women Stitch has held in-person events in the Charlottesville, Virginia area that center Black women and share the gift of sewing. Thanks to generous donations of money, materials, in-kind gifts, and volunteer time from our supporters, we keep the barriers to entry as low as possible.
In-person activities and events are still on hold, but join our mailing list to be the first to learn of our sewing education, sewing meet-ups, and other sewing events.
Join us for weekly chats on Instagram Live. We address topics of interest, current affairs, and answer questions about sewing, building racial equity, Black activism, and dismantling white supremacy.
Our online chats are Black centered and available for anyone on IG who is interested in sewing and believes that Black Lives Matter. Whether you love the idea of creativity and self-empowerment through making your own clothes but have never tried sewing or you’re an established sewist who made yourself a wardrobe a fashionista would envy, we’re your sewing and activism community.
If you’re new to sewing or have only worked on basic projects before, our sewing studios are a great place to improve your sewing skills or start to learn how to make your own clothes, accessories, or housewares. If you’re an experienced sewist, consider joining us at our next sewing studio to share your skills and meet fellow Black women, girl, and femme makers.
In July 2019, we offered a Pop-Up Sewing Studio, which brought 20 sewing stations and sewing instruction in skirt making for 40 students in the Charlottesville area. Thanks to a SOUPgrant from New City Arts, 20 of these students received scholarships.
The STITCH PLEASE podcast fills a prominent niche and need for Black women sewists while educating all listeners about issues of consequence in the lives of Black people. The podcast discusses sewing in detail, including sewing tips and hacks, how to design your own clothing, and Black fashion, along with antiracist conversation that affirms and centers Black women, femmes, and girls.
Even though sewing and making has been central to the Black experience in the United States and African American women have built businesses, supported families, and expressed their creativity with sewing, the needle arts of sewing and quilting have a long history of minimizing, erasing, and silencing Black women. Institutions, including sewing institutions, have tried to exclude Black women, but this podcast puts African American women who create and sew in the center of the discussion.
Discount code SEWBLACKQC for 20% off at Spoonflower and 10% off at Crimson Tate.