Sewing and Sanctuary is a women’s sewing group which was founded in May 2022.

It is a Transition Town Tooting project run in partnership with Oxfam Tooting.

We are a place of sanctuary where women of refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds and women from the local community meet, stitch and chat. We enjoy learning together, sharing skills and helping one another. With an emphasis on reuse, we make beautiful creations whilst reducing textile waste.

Our priority is promoting good mental health. We use lots of different textile related techniques including hand stitching, machine stitching, crochet and knitting.

The group has produced banners, taken part in fundraising projects and run workshops at local events including Tooting Can and the BATCA Funday. The highlight of last year was our ‘Community Stitching Upcycled Fashion Show’. Here is a blog about our activities from Spring 2025.

We meet every Friday morning. For more information send us an email at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com