Woven Worlds
Jessie Stringer-Fewtrill & Natalie Linney of Salford Slow Fashion (UK) have come together with Katende Godfrey of IGC Fashion (Uganda) to create a distinctive fashion collection, born from their shared dedication to ethical textiles and mutual aim to bring awareness to the colonial impacts of the textile industry past and present. This collaboration continues their longstanding partnership and is deeply rooted in experimental processes, emphasizing the narratives and journeys woven into each textile.
Central to the ethical ethos of this collection is the celebration of Lubugo (bark-cloth) - an ancient and culturally significant Ugandan fabric. Katende is leading vital work to revive and modernise bark cloth, helping to reframe perceptions and ensure its continued relevance. As part of the collection two approaches were explored with this sustainable material - quilting, patchwork and natural dyeing.
For the making of this collection, Salford Slow Fashion worked with a group of care-experienced young people in Salford UK, while IGC Fashion collaborated with Kitgum community group in Northern Uganda, a post conflict rural town, recovering from war. These groups explored self-expression through words, patterns, and stitching, which was then transformed into textiles for the collection.
Jessie of SSF traveled to Uganda in February 2025 for the research & development phase of the project, then in April 2025 Katende of IGC traveled to Manchester to work with Natalie Linney & Sarah-Joy to develop the textile processes with quilting and natural dye. Once all the individual elements had been produced, Jessie and Katende designed & made the collection working together to create bespoke patterns and construct the garments.
The garments were made to tell the past and present story of the textile industries of the UK and Uganda.
Garment 1 - Highlights the rich textile heritage of both countries and the historical links between them. The garment was dyed using natural dying techniques, using Lubugo the traditional fabric from Uganda and rust sourced from the infrastructure of historic Lancashire cotton mills.
Garment 2 - Looks at the current issues around textile waste and the present concerns around unwanted fabrics being sent to Uganda. The quilted jacket was crafted with Lubugo and repurposed textiles from Owino Market in Kampala. Owino Market is one of the largest second hand markets in East Africa trading second hand fabrics and fashion from the Global West. The jacket has been embroidered with symbols created by the community groups from the UK and Uganda exploring identity.
IGC fashion is a fashion label from Kampala, Uganda inspired by African heritage, nature and culture always paired with a forward thinking and a unique design aesthetic. IGC looks at garments as moving breathing pieces of sculptural art which can be used as a vehicle for communicating and questioning ideas about our cultures.
This project was funded by The British Council International Collaboration Fund.
Photo Credits to Christ Lutanga, Mukisa Kibuuka, Joe Smith, Jody Hartley.
2024
Led by Sarah-Joy Ford as the lead artist, the following artists have also contributed: Matthew Bamber, Grace Collins, Gwen Evans, George Gibson, Alicja Mrozowska, Venessa Scott, Kay Shah, Will Belshah and Freya Wysocki.
The exhibition includes painting, drawing and collage through quilting and print making. The project took the form of a quilting circle bringing together artists from diverse artistic practices.
Sarah-Joy Ford’s interest in artist methodologies and the processes behind how and why artists create, guided the project. Within the quilt, you’ll find objects that inspire each of the artists’ practices, tools, books, artworks, and the influences that their work is in lineage to alongside items that bring comfort and meaning.
Using the idea of a quilt as a time capsule – a container for memory – the artists worked together and explored what they would leave behind as a reflection of their artistic practice. The project was centered around providing a space for playfulness, slowing down, and building connections with one another. Through this collaborative process, the artists learned from one another but also discovered interconnections between their practices.
Through collaborative workshops Sarah-Joy Ford worked with the artists to embroider with a longarm quilter and to share her specialism in quilt making.
An LGBTQ+ banner making workshop for Homotopia festival in Liverpool, 2022.
Photography by Mhairi Bell-Moody
A feminist banner making workshop celebrating the women’s literature festival 2022.
An online log cabin workshop for Proximity members.
Log cabins by:
Ann Carragher
Jackie Haynes
Anthony Hall
Bex Howard
This workshop was commissioned by the Victoria and Albert Museum for the Friday Lates program: There is no place like home. The workshop was developed in collaboration with the Gendered Interpretations at the Victoria and Albert Museum and VASA museum research project at Plymouth University.
The workshop was inspired by the Oxburgh hangings made by Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth Talbot, which are held in the V&A collection, celebrate the home as a place of friendship, creativity and collaboration for women. The workshop used digital print, applique and stitching to re-assemble and recreate contemporary interpretations of the hangings celebrating connection between women.
This workshop was part of the Arts Immersion Project at L Fest 2019. The workshop was a space to celebrate lesbian culture, power and families. The miniature protest banners can be used on marches or taken home and kept as a reminder of lesbian strength and power.
This banner making workshop was delivered at Loughborough University with the Women’s Network. The two banners were used in the international Women’s Day march 2019. The women chose to focus the banners on the issues of sexual assault and consent in nightclubs for students.
Processions, Artichoke Productions
Collaboration with Republica Internationale Women’s Football Team and LGBT Foundation, Manchester
This processions project celebrates women’s football and the radical possibilities for social change that it can bring. The banner raises the issues of ongoing sexism and homophobia faced by women in sport. Much anti-homophobia campaigning in sports has focused on men’s experiences, where as this collaboration focuses on the unique challenges of being female and gay. The banner champions grass roots football, in particular explicitly anti-fascist teams like Republica Internationale as spaces for celebrating LGBT people, and challenging ongoing discrimination.
Women’s rights belong to all women, and therefore we must have inclusion, representation and solidarity for all women before we have true equality.
More about Processions
PROCESSIONS was a once-in-a-lifetime mass participation artwork which celebrated one hundred years of votes for women.
In 1918, the Representation of the People Act gave the first British women the right to vote and stand for public office. One hundred years on, we invited women* and girls across the UK to come and mark this historic moment as part of a living portrait of women in the 21st century. On Sunday 10th of June, women and girls in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London came together as part of this celebratory mass participation artwork. Wearing either green, white or violet, the colours of the suffragette movement, the PROCESSIONS appeared as a flowing river of colour through the city streets.
One hundred women artists were commissioned to work with organisations and communities across the UK to create one hundred centenary banners for PROCESSIONS as part of an extensive public programme of creative workshops.
This workshop was delivered as part of the Art School for Rebel Girls summer school program organised by Pavilion, Leeds. The workshop included an archive engagement session in Feminist Archive North to find inspiration from the women’s movement that came before. The banner was exhibited as part of the Art School for Rebel Girls exhibition at The University of Leeds.
For more information about the project: https://pavilion.org.uk/art-school-for-rebel-girls/
review: https://theculturevulture.co.uk/cultures/pavilion-rebel-girls/
I was a participant in this Automation and Me hackathon, organised by Northern Sound collective, part of Leeds International festival. 20 female artists came together to share digital skills and create new collaborations. For this hack, pfaff kindly sponsored me with the loan on a creative 3.0 digital sewing machine.
