Thursday, October 6th was the first meeting of a monthly sewing and handicrafts group called Sackville Sews Together. The drop in sewing circle will meet at the Sackville Commons & Coworking on the first of every month. It is meant to be an opportunity for Sackvilles sewing enthusiasts to get together and work on their latest projects. Other textile crafts, such as knitting and crochet, are also welcome (I brought my current knitting project). Although you have to bring your own equipment for the most part (i.e your own sewing machines) some equipment, like pins and even a serger, which is a sort of specialized sewing machine for finishing edges, are provided by the organizer.
The event is organized by Jeska Grue, a graduate of the costume studies program at Dalhousie University. She has designed clothes under her name with a focus on high quality materials and fabrics. For example, she used custom milled linen from Ireland. She was approached by the town about conducting sewing workshops after they received a grant meant to encourage arts in the community. However, as she missed the social, participatory nature of working in a classroom setting, she decided that she wanted to try running these drop-in style meetings first. The group is meant to be casual and without pressure, a place for like-minded people to get together and encourage each other to work on a shared hobby.
When I attended the first meeting of Sackville Sews Together it lived up to the idea of a classic sewing circle. We chatted about anything and everything while busying our hands with our work. It was a refreshingly communal event in a world still recovering from the isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic.
