Stitch Buffalo is more than a space for sewing and handmade goods — it’s a place where refugee women from around the world, opportunity and belonging come together.
Dawne Hoag, a textile artist and educator by trade, saw a need for a community for refugee women soon after she moved to Buffalo. In 2014, she started Stitch Buffalo’s community workshops, which provided training, supplies and projects to refugee women. The workshops quickly gained traction, and soon Stitch Buffalo grew into its own nonprofit, operating out of a small space on Niagara Street.
Today, it is located in a much larger space on Plymouth Avenue and continues to grow, engaging with dozens of refugee women with multiple focus areas.
The Refugee Women’s Workshop continues to provide training, supplies and projects to refugee women that live in Buffalo. “From that, women are able to learn their skills, hone it in and make products to sell. And all the while, they’re embedded in a community that embraces who they are and what they’re doing here,” explained Dawne. The wares are for sale in Stitch Buffalo’s colorful gift shop, housed In the front of their building, filled to the brim with handmade gifts, including their famous “Buffalove” pins.
For many women, their work with Stitch Buffalo has given them their first-ever paycheck. Dawne shares a story of one woman who used her first paycheck to purchase a pair of winter boots when she first moved to Buffalo, and how proud she was of being able to do that.
Other Stitch Buffalo programs include:
- Second Stitch, a sustainability program that incorporates the reuse of all textile tools and materials that get donated. Through this program, refugee woman also get access to free materials and supplies like fabric and sewing machines.
- Repairs and Alterations service that all community members can utilize. Dawne noted that since moving to its current location two years ago, it has seen the need for this service increase by about 400 percent. “We fix zippers, holes in pants, tears in sweaters….it’s along the lines of our sustainability program and to keep things in use as long as you can,” she said.
- Sewing classes that are open to the entire community.
Through the years, Stitch Buffalo has received a number of grants administered by the Community Foundation, including one from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Arts and Culture Initiative that supported an exhibit at the Buffalo History that Dawne felt elevated Stitch Buffalo’s presence and the work that the women do.
“Every one of those grants really helped us take the next step forward,” Dawne said.
Her connection to the Community Foundation doesn’t stop there. In 2019, Dawne was selected as a finalist for the Community Foundation’s Up and Comer Award, part of its Centennial Celebration, which Dawne describes as “a moment of solidifying that this is needed and people see it, support it and believe in us.”
Dawne thoughtfully reflected on Stitch Buffalo’s journey so far: “Those community workshops really grew out of necessity. And I think in hindsight, the necessity was community building. It was coming out of isolation for refugee women and connecting and knowing that there was this free opportunity just to be in community and learn and share skills. And the good we hope to do stems from those workshops and making visible what was an invisible culture.”