Lisa Woolfork 0:10

Hello Stitchers! Welcome to Stitch Please, the official podcast of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. I'm your host, Lisa Woolfork. I'm a fourth generation sewing enthusiast, with more than 20 years of sewing experience. I am looking forward to today's conversation. So sit back, relax, and get ready to get your stitch together.

Hey, friends, hey! Welcome to 2024! Happy 2024! I am so excited to be with you today. I am so grateful that you decided to start off your year with the Stitch Please podcast. We are honored that you would spend your time with us because time is the one thing you cannot replace. So I wanted to share today a little bit of a Sankofa lesson. Sankofa is the Akan word, the Akan, a people of Ghana, who use language as idiograms. And by this I mean when a word can be represented in a picture. So the picture that represents Sankofa also reflects its principle. Sankofa means "to run and go get it" or "go get it". It's a reminder; it is, "Oh, you forgot that! Go back and get that real quick!" This is what the Sankofa is. It is a look back to retrieve that which was lost from the past, and to bring it with you into the future. Sankofa is represented by a bird that has its two feet planted, facing forward. Its body is facing forward, but its neck is turned completely to the left or to the opposite side to look behind it. And if you look closely, in many of the representations, the bird has a little circle in its beak, like a little egg, in its beak. And it's meant to represent as this bird was moving forward, it had forgotten it had left behind an essential thing from its past, that was necessary for a bright and successful future.

This is why I like to start the year off with a reflection- a way to kind of look back and think about the past, to think about, "What lessons did 2023 generously teach? What lessons, what blessings, what gifts, did 2023 give, that I would like to bring forward into 2024? The main lesson that I will take from 2023 into 2024 is to dream big. That's it! Dream big. That is a simple idea, but it has monumental repercussions and reverberations in the lives of Black women, girls, and femmes. It sounds like something hokey you might see on a folder at the Dollar Tree, but it really is a strategy for dismantling a lot of internalized oppression. Let me tell you why. Too often the vocabulary of the world engages with Black women in very negative ways. "No, you can't. No, there's not enough." Too often, the world speaks to Black women using the language of "no". The language of lack and of limitation and of scarcity. Dreaming big is the first step to forming a fence, a barrier, between the doubt, between the self-sabotage, between the imposter syndrome, quote, unquote, that really does the job of counting you out before you've even had a chance to get started.

So dreaming big is a permission slip. And I encourage you to dream big in 2024. I was able to see the fruition of one of my big dreams last year, in 2023, during QuiltCon. Black Women Stitch hosted the first Affinity Space at the QuiltCon Convention, which is the annual convention of the Modern Quilt Guild. The space was a haven, a lounge, a respite, and those who participated in the space had a fantastic time, according to the exit surveys and subsequent comments. As part of the Sew Black Space, we recorded six episodes, and you are warmly invited and encouraged to go back and listen to those episodes. We released those episodes in September of 2023. And you know, they may or may not come back this year. You know, who's to say? Who's to say? But they are really beautiful, exclusive conversations that were recorded in the space but are now available to be heard by all.

The success of the Sew Black Space was a wonderful proof of concept, so much so that the MQG will now offer its own Affinity Spaces so it can support its diverse membership. This means that Black Women Stitch will not be at QuiltCon in 2024 because the MQG will be offering and managing those spaces themselves. This may be the end of Sew Black at QuiltCon, but it is not the end of Sew Black, so stay tuned for updates and opportunities, for collaboration and a Black ass good time, by subscribing to the newsletter so you can stay in touch.

My big dreams also showed up in 2023 in the podcasting world. We were nominated for awards, we won awards. It was such a wonderful experience to be a guest on The Black Guy Who Tips podcast, to guest on Mind Body and Business with Maria More. These were such beautiful opportunities to work with podcasters that I admire, including Tea with Queen and J., who came to the Stitch Please podcast, and they are my sheroes. They are the reason that I have a podcast. And so it was a really full circle moment to have them on my show, and it was a wonderful time. It has been a fantastic year of growth and development for the Stitch Please podcast, and I'm grateful for you listening to the show, for giving us a reason to go into--I'm saying, "And to give me a reason to go into the studio!" Girl, I'm gonna be in the sunroom anyway, but you give me a reason to get on the microphone and talk to myself, when I know I'm really talking to you.

So I appreciate the opportunity to bring me into your sewing space, as we talk about Black Women Stitch and the Stitch Please podcast, centering Black women. Thank you so much for bringing me into your craft space! Thank you so much for bringing me into your sewing space! I am really grateful to be a part of your creative journey. We've got big dreams in store for 2024.

Now, speaking of dreams, what is going to be your first make of 2024? Have you thought about that yet? I know we're kind of just getting started; I know it's a little early yet. No pressure, no pressure. But have you thought about what you want to make to start the year off? And do you have a tradition where you want to make something for the first day of the year? Or there's like a New Year's event that you go to every year, or a special church service, or worship service, and, you know, you want to have a special outfit. I don't know. I really don't have that. I do, you know, think the first make of the year is significant. But I don't, you know, attribute like a "make or break" type thing, like not eating, you know, collard greens and black eyed peas on New Year's Day- like CATASTROPHE! The chaos, the chaos! So, I don't have that same kind of commitment to a particular garment, BUT I am excited about making something! So you tell me what yours is because I'm going to tell you what mine is.

Mine is Vogue pattern number R12001. That is the outside envelope picture; I'm opening the envelope now, and the true number is Vogue pattern number 1982. This does not look too difficult. I say that as someone who has sewn for 25 years. And looking at the back of this pattern, it says it's average. I'll be sure to read it three times because it's important to read your pattern directions three times. And as I do this, I'm looking at how many pieces there are. There's only seven pieces to this pattern! So my hope is that it will not be that hard to put together. So my next step will be to unpack the pattern, press it, cut the pieces of the pattern apart, then cut the fabric and the interfacing, and then probably read the directions again. I will also cut it a bit larger; I just need to think about the different fit issues. This is a pattern that is done in a woven, so I will probably use a sheet; that's my plan. My plan is to use a sheet to make this outfit. I really enjoy using sheets to do test fabrics. Or if you find a cool sheet, you got a cool outfit. I remember I did this with a sheet set a few years ago, and I made this hat. I was trying to fit a hat, and I happened to have some Marimekko fabric. And it was so funny because that hat turned out so bad. It looked awful! I showed it on the Patreon. It looked like a Marimekko Klansman. It really did. It really absolutely did. It looked like a hood from some grand wizard in the Klan, but they also-- but make it Marimekko. It was the wildest thing! Oh my gosh, I cackled. Oh, it was so terrible. So I'll probably do that again. I will-- I don't think I have that terrible hat, but then I'd have a full outfit with a cape! But I'm gonna use sheets, the Marimekko sheets that I have, make this muslin, to fit my body in loving and supportive ways.

What is your first project gonna be? You can learn more about mine. I'll be posting about it on the socials. And you can give me some advice, as I'm working on that. And thank you so much for being with us today! Thank you for starting your 2024 with us. Stay tuned to the Stitch Please podcast for some really exciting new programming. You know, we've got new episodes, new guests, people who are familiar to you, perhaps, people who you might not know at all. But it's always going to be a really wonderful opportunity to center and celebrate Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. It's gonna be a Black ass good time, AND you will help you get your stitch together!

You've been listening to Stitch Please, the official podcast of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. We appreciate you joining us this week, and every week, for stories that center Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. We invite you to join the Black Women Stitch Patreon community, with giving levels beginning at $5 a month. Your contributions help us bring the Stitch Please podcast to you every week. Thank you for listening, thank you for your support, and come back next week and we'll help you get your stitch together.