Transition Town Tooting

Category: Sewing

  • TootingCAN: A Day of Skill-Sharing, Connection, and Hope

    TootingCAN: A Day of Skill-Sharing, Connection, and Hope

    All Photos credit: George Dixon

    What a day! On 9 May 2026, the United Reformed Church in Rookstone Road buzzed with energy, creativity, and a shared passion for making Tooting a better place. TootingCAN, organized by Transition Town Tooting (TTT) and funded by the Wandsworth Grant Fund, brought together 108 participants from all walks of life to celebrate the skills, resilience, and kindness that make our community thrive.

    From the moment you walked in, you could feel that this was more than just an event. It was a testament to what happens when we come together to learn, share, and care for one another. Whether you were trying your hand at British Sign Language (BSL), crafting a comic book, or whipping up date balls in the kitchen, there was something for everyone, and everyone had something to give.

    Stitching the Totes

    A Celebration of Skills and Community

    TTT’s mission is to tackle the climate and ecological emergency through volunteer-led, community-driven action right here in Tooting. TootingCAN is our moment to convene the people with skills and experiences from our locality to do exactly that through sharing, showcasing that our work is nothing without the vibrant and diverse community right here in Tooting. Participants left with new experiences, fresh ideas, and a sense of belonging that’s vital to build a flourishing sustainable future.:

    • 108 participants engaged across 15 activities.
    • 15+ workshops delivered, from worm composting to AI sustainability and Indian dance.
    • Around 75% of attendees were Wandsworth residents, proving that the best solutions start right where we live.

    But the real magic was in the story we all started to weave:

    • 9 out of 10 participants praised the event’s warmth and inclusivity, with many highlighting the friendliness and the diverse, healthy food as standout features.
    • Activities like the BSL workshop and Creation Station, led by children and supervised by Core Group member Abby, (where attendees crafted badges, mugs, and comic book stories) were particularly beloved, with participants calling them “inspiring” and “connected to family heritage.”
    • Special mention for Kelly’s cooking class for children; firstly as it enabled children to experience the joy of cooking nutritious meals from scratch, secondly as it introduced them to cooking sustainably through plant based recipes. It is hoped that this will plant the seeds for these children to enjoy cooking and cook meals that are good for the planet – potential huge long term gains if they can be sustained (through more Tooting CANs!)
    • The event closed with a community meal, performances of the fresh BSL skills and slick Indian dance moves before a collective sing song with the Lido Choir which brought the room to life, proving that joy is a skill we all share.

    Lap around a Laptop, take a look inside…

    Feedback That Warms the Heart and nourishes our work

    This year, we had an engaging and creative way to gather feedback on the walls of the entrance corridors. One attendee, a 70-year-old singer, said:

    “I loved the community atmosphere, anyone can sing! I’d love to see more singing in future events.”

    Another, a 50-year-old stitching enthusiast, shared:

    “I connected sewing to my family heritage and loved the Lido Choir. The whole event felt so welcoming.”

    Contributors (our 30+ volunteers) echoed this sentiment. They loved seeing the diversity of skills on display and the buzz of activity, and the collective effort of hosting TootingCAN.

    Indian dance, clack! clack!

    What’s Next?

    Transition Town Toting have run TootingCAN for the last 3 years and the enthusiasm for it grows each time. This year, we received loads of ideas for workshops at future TootingCANs, such as:

    • More singing and creative workshops (think choral singing, book clubs and dance)
    • Deeper dives into IT topics like AI and sustainability.
    • Arts and Crafts from crochet to lino printing, collage to painting & sketching
    • Food and cooking workshops like fermentation, kimchi and baking
    • Finally, the practical stuff: gardening, bike maintenance and woodwork.

    Most importantly, TootingCAN proved that community resilience isn’t just a buzzword, it’s something we build, day by day, skill by skill, in community. Let’s see how next year’s tootingCAN develops!

    Serving lunch

    A Huge Thank You

    To every participant, volunteer, and contributor, thank you for making TootingCAN a day to remember. Your energy, creativity, and kindness are what make Tooting special. Huge thanks to Amy and the United Reformed Church, our home from home. And to the Wandsworth Grant Fund, thank you for believing in this vision and helping us bring it to life.

    The future is bright, and it starts right here in Tooting. Let’s keep sharing, learning, and growing together—because when we do, there’s no limit to what we can achieve.

    Want to get involved? Perhaps you have something to offer for next year’s TootingCAN? Transition Town Tooting is always looking for volunteers and new ideas. Get in touch at [TransitionTownTooting@gmail.com] to join the movement!

    Close with a sing song

    Tooting can!

    By Rich Couldrey

    Step in to the creation station, stick, squeeze, badge
    Take a lap around a laptop, who knew AI was…
    Stitching ties, totes to carry your prize, whirrr, prick, chat, chat
    Chaat chaat, making chaat, spiced cascade,
    A taste of tooting in date …
    balls and pizzas made, squeeze, need and dough 
    The meal begins to assemble ...

    But wait, we dive underground, dark, as worms wriggle and squirm outside, 
    Past quests for reflection,
    to planters repaired and hands in the soil, plants go in... grow, grow!

    In community, we relate, a rainbow human family,
    What did you say? Hands sway and flow, in letters made as we move, my name, your name, hello hello. 

    Gestures turn to dance, sticks clack clack! As Ragini moves, with such grace and poise, we follow, Kathak, Kathak.

    And back, to find a way into a digital world, clickety clack of fingers on keyboards learning to excel, nearly time to relax... 

    Wooosh! A gleeful child runs and newspaper kites fly out back, time to rise up...     up...  up... to see a drawn map of us all, BAT BAT. 

    Enough of all that, 
    Take a breath, in and sing, 
    feel the healing, "hold on, my dear, here comes the dawn" rings,
    And stop, pause, time to eat and reflect,
    A leek and potatoes soup to fill the...head… 
    heart and hands, and celebrate...
    Tooting's rainbow soul, 
    ‘til next time we gather and change the world once more.
  • Sewing & Sanctuary

    Sewing & Sanctuary

    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. Have a look at this lovely video of our work.

    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

  • What a wonderful Upcycled Fashion Show!

    What a wonderful Upcycled Fashion Show!

    The much anticipated, Community Stitching Upcycled Fashion Show took place on Saturday 20th September at Tooting United Reformed Church.

    The fashion show started at 12.30 pm and about twenty upcycled outfits were showcased by our amazing models, most of whom were regular members of the Sewing and Sanctuary group, complemented by friends and family.

    Our fantastic compère, Jane Clark, who is also a facilitator of the group, talked the audience through the garments being worn, to inspire others to try this at home! Several of our makers had incorporated Shibori stitch resist-dyed indigo pieces and sashiko samples made at Sewing and Sanctuary under the guidance of Jill Rutter, who also appeared as one of our models, showing more of her own work. Many of the garments in the show had been rescued from Oxfam’s recycling bags, or discovered at the Work and Play Scrapstore, beautifully illustrating how we can breathe new life into previously unwanted clothes. Our showstopper skirt incorporated vintage tablecloths and vintage crochet doilies and it was embroidered with meaningful words selected by group members to express how coming to the group makes them feel, some of these were ‘connect’ ‘inspire’ ‘welcome’.

    Following the show, attendees could chat and go to each of the 6 activity tables to try out some of these upcycling skills. On offer was making felt or fabric flower brooches with Gloria from Sewing and Sanctuary and Gillian from Crafty Pint. Heather, representing the Tooting Market crochet group, led pom-pom making plus an introduction to crochet and knitting. Doreen and Shirley from Thread and Connect taught weaving skills with cardboard looms, Balham Sewing Bee members showed how to add pockets to garments and Nabila offered mending skills.  Participants were truly inspired by the attractive displays of various natural dyeing techniques by Jill Rutter, Jane Clark and Helen Kertesz. The stall selling haberdashery from the Work and Play Scrapstore was very popular too!

    There was a wonderful buzz of activity in the room and all this time the fantastic TTT catering team, led by Abby, were busily making organic vegetable and lentil, vegan soup (ingredients kindly donated by Abel and Cole). The room was skilfully transformed, creating one long, dressed dining table, thanks to the skilful guidance of Rich, and everyone sat down to a delicious lunch of soup served with fresh bread and tasty samosas (kindly supplied by Pooja).

    This event celebrated  Wandsworth Borough Council’s Sustainable September and Oxfam’s Secondhand September.

  • Sewing and sharing leaves with Lancashire

    Sewing and sharing leaves with Lancashire

    In the past fortnight members of Sewing And Sanctuary, the local TTT and Oxfam collaboration, have made these very beautiful textile leaves at Friday sessions and also at home. So many techniques! 

    The group has connected with Sewing Cafe Lancaster who called out for hand-made leaves, so it’s a warm-hearted collective and connected link from Tooting to Lancashire that’s creative and practical.

    Leaves made with love by many people are being combined in a sculpture between 24 & 26 April. The piece will be called ‘Leaves of Dhaka’ and it commemorates one of the largest-ever workplace disasters, when the Rana Plaza garment-making factory in Bangladesh collapsed on 24 April 2013, killing an estimated 1,134 workers. Almost all the casualties were women and they were making garments for Western high street chains. The international charity Fashion Revolution was established following the disaster to highlight fair working practices for ‘Who Makes Your Clothes?’ – one of their taglines. 

    Here’s the link https://sewingcafelancaster.com/event/frw25/ to the programme when these leaves will be incorporated alongside many others. You can see some images below of them in the gallery.

    All invited to drop in to the event if you are in Lancaster and you can follow Sewing And Sanctuary on Instagram at @sewingandsanctuary


    Read more about Sewing & Sanctuary HERE

  • Sewing & Sanctuary Update (Spring 2024)

    Sewing & Sanctuary Update (Spring 2024)

    We have now reached our second anniversary and the sewing group is going from strength to strength with around 20 regular members. Last year we featured in two short Oxfam films marking Refugee Week and Secondhand September.  Also marking the latter, we ran a sashiko denim patch workshop for 30 Oxfam shop managers and staff, in Mushkil Aasaan and secondly, we ran a repair and upcycling workshop, on the Oxfam shop floor.

    During the year we had two takeovers of the shop window, when we exhibited our handiwork to the shoppers of Tooting. The second of these was the culmination of a project ‘Different Ways to feel London is your Home’. This fantastic project was suggested and managed by our wonderful facilitator Patricia who brought her flair, skills and colourful creativity all the way from Columbia.  Acknowledging that many of us were originally from different countries or other parts of the UK, we celebrated this by making items for the home collaboratively, using recycled materials and including colours, symbols, fabrics or techniques from our various homes and cultures.

    The finished furnishings included a hammock made using crocheted strips of waste tee-shirts, a plaited rug made from sari falls recalling rangoli designs, a bed set using techniques from Afghanistan and labelled ‘dreaming of a better life in London’ and a fabric tea service recalling conversations over tea in Paris. As we made these items, various members of the group stood up and shared their memories of childhood, home and families and this was very moving.

    We completed our beautiful ‘Sewing and Sanctuary’ banner with each letter created by a different member of the group using a variety of techniques and all from repurposed materials of course! You may have seen it on display at Tooting Can or one of our other events. 

    We took it along to a meeting organised by Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees involving a number of local community sewing groups where we met a team from Liberty. This led to two visits (including some of our group members) to the Design Studio at Liberty. We have also made connections with a local fashion entrepreneur, Sakina O’Neill of Re-Runn and with the Royal College of Art who included us in their stakeholder engagement focus groups as part of their research into creating a regenerative fashion hub in Wandsworth. 

    Over the past year we have continued to produce work for other charities, some of our knitters producing chicks for Trinity Hospice’s annual fundraiser and we made textile picture postcards for Sprout Art’s postcard sale. As I write this, Oxfam Tooting is temporarily closed  for refurbishment but we continue to meet and in the future we have plans to sell some of our work in the Oxfam shop. Watch this space!

  • A fantastic afternoon at Sew it, Show it!

    A fantastic afternoon at Sew it, Show it!

    A fabulous time was had by all at the Sew It, Show Picnic and Parade.

    The event was a celebration of slow fashion featuring sewing, stitching, crafting, fixing, mending and swapping – a picnic and a parade!

    The event bought together indivduals and community groups from across Tooting with workshops from Work & Play Scrapstore, Fabric Nation brooch making with Gillian, Junkaroo Face Painting, Ubuntu The Lion, Creative Ladies knitting and handicraft group from Tooting Market, a Clothes Swap led by BYO (donations can be left at their stall in the market) and TTT’s Sewing and Sanctuary group which offered a Boro Stitch Workshop plus stalls from My Old Girl & Me upcycled Bohemian, Indian and Irish influenced block prints and Caroline’s Couture designer inspired clothes and accessories.

    The highlight of the event was our Slow Fashion Parade – here are the prize winners (details below)

    1st Prize: Annie wearing a dress made from her 2nd husband’s first wife’s bedsheet, twinned with a crocheted white top she had made and a handbag in the style of Dolce & Gabbana, including snakeskin, though no snakes were harmed!

    2nd Prize: Aniyah wearing a dress made from old ties by her grandmother Winnie who accompanied her with a hat with a tie headband.

    3rd Prize: Jeni Walker-Lawes in a dress made from recycled saris from My Old Girl & Me, upcycled brooch and feathers from Wandsworth Oasis.

    4th Prize: Hilary Jennings in a mint condition 35 year old T-shirt, dungarees from Tooting Age UK, charity shop Birkenstocks and bead necklace.

    5th Prize: Suzanne O’Donnell for her medical waste corset worn by 3 year old Mila and her own handmade dress in 50s chic style.

    And our Highly Commended paraders (details below)

    Tenley and Lucy who had stumbled on the event and got an outfit in the Clothes Swap!

    Phoenix made her own dragon inspired Halloween skirt paired with a Fabric Nation brooch.

    Malsara wore a “skort”, a cross between shorts and a skirt made from a man’s suit jacket and trousers.

    Charlie Zeus wore charity shop trousers made into shorts and an upcycled friend’s T-shirt while daughter Cleo wore a tie-dye hat and bag she had made, charity shop shorts and her mother’s reused trainers.

    Sue from Transition Town Brixton wore a stylish jacket made at the Woodfield Pavilion from leftover ends of upholstery material.

    Lucille wore a dress made from repurposed Film & TV stock trimmed with recycled African vintage textiles with Frida Kahlo and Venezuelan influences.

    Alexandra wore a floral Zara dress and Skechers shoes from a charity shop

    Judge Lucy from Eden Project Outreach was dressed banner cloak made by Woodfield Craftivists while compere David wore his pimped up suit jacket with tiger motif, repaired shorts and charity find shirt.

    Great Prizes included 3 sessions with Taking Care of Fitness Personal Trainer, £50 behind the bar at Graveney Gin, a Frida Kahlo cushion, Sue Ure ceramics and Eden Project goodies.

    The event was part of our Share & Repair project, supported by Transition Together with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund and The Eden Project Big Lunch.   It was organised by Meet & Make Spaces, Tooting., who run creative workshops and meet-ups in different spaces for the community of Tooting and beyond.

  • Sew it, Show it – picnic and parade!

    Sew it, Show it – picnic and parade!

    Saturday 24th June 20

    All Saints Gardens

    Come dressed in something you’ve made yourself, or repaired or bought in a charity shop, get ready to parade or support; join a sewing workshop or watch expert knitters and don’t forget to bring a picnic.

    Our Share & Repair group are thrilled that the team behind Fixing Fashion in Tooting Market are back to present Sew It, Show It .

    A celebration of slow fashion. If you sew or fix your own, or shop in charity shops, come along and  join in our PARADE, or pose from the sidelines.

    If like me you’re not quite there with the sewing we’ll have local people on hand to teach you to sew, local shops selling their upcycled clothes and the culmination will be a Big Lunch supported by the Eden Project, so we’re asking everyone to bring their favourite food and something to sit on for a Big Community Picnic.

    Supported by Transition Together with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund

    Saturday 24th June – 1-4.00pm

    All Saints Church Gardens, Brudenell Road, London SW17 8DQ

    For all details, please contact us here and if you like Facebook we have an event page so you can keep up to date with everything as it unravels (like what I did there).

    Find out more about our Share & Repair project including our regular Restart fixing and mending parties.