Monthly Sewing Bee at Hornsey Health Centre

As part of my ongoing networking, I like to discover other craft groups in Crouch End and surrounding areas. So it was lovely to meet Catherine Best and her Sewing Bee Volunteers last Friday. The group was held at the Hornsey Central Cafe inside the Hornsey Health Centre, Park Road. I received a warm and very enthusiastic welcome by the ladies who gave me instructions on what to do.

The aim of the session was to join up knitted or crocheted squares into strips and then the strips joined to make blankets for charity. I was amazed how many bags of squares had been donated by various volunteers in London and beyond. I learned that the blankets are returned to the charity, Knit for Peace in North London, then sent out to care homes, homeless and refugee charities and smaller blankets go to neonatal wards.

The Sewing Bee was started by Catherine, who coordinates the group. Catherine was the first to become involved in the Knit for Peace project and later her friends from the Crouch End Festival Chorus joined in.

The next Sewing Bee will be in a month’s time, Friday 18th October, from 1.00 pm to 3.00 pm, at the Hornsey Central Cafe, Hornsey Health Centre, 151 Park Road, N8 8JD. Anyone is welcome to join these monthly meet ups. The only skills you need are sewing backstitch for joining squares and crochet stitches to create borders for the blankets. Although if you don’t know these, I’m sure a regular volunteer could show you.

This is a group I will definitely be returning to. Thanks to all the Sewing Bee Volunteers for assisting me and keep up the good work!

To find out more about Knit for Peace see www.knitforpeace.org.uk.

Photos clockwise: Catherine holding the squares I sewed together, Sewing Bee details, two blankets with
crocheted borders, donated bags of knitted squares and yarn oddments.

Sujan Nandanwar
Community Crafternoons
https://www.facebook.com/sujan.nandanwar
Website: https://www.instagram.com/crouchendcrafter/, #communitycrafternoons, #hornsey, #islington, #crouchend.