Sew Positive

23/09/2025

Our new term started with a BIG buzz…volunteers whizzed around Sewcialise, Sew Practical, Men’s Hems and ready for our friends at in the morning!

We also went to to celebrate the wonderful community research project which 5 of our participants took part in: two participants’ poems are featured here 🤩

Our CEO, Melissa, wanted to bottle today especially, as two participants made her a special hoodie, which just so happened to match her me-made dress brilliantly!

Another participant wrote a card about how since they joined Sew Positive exactly a year ago how much it has improved their mental health, and the ways it’s impacted their life.

We had two special donations today, one from none other than our Mental Health Commissioner Guy Fairburn, donating a pre-loved sewing machine, and a lovely collection of donated fabrics from Dawn who popped into CDR. We know that the is going to be VERY popular!

It really is so much more than sewing. Please support small charities like us, because what we do makes big changes in our communities.

23/09/2025

Finishing setting up for our first course today! Bringing together local isolated people and Ukrainian refugees to improve social cohesion….we are starting with turning old duvets into PJ bottoms!

22/09/2025

We started back with services today supporting people facing social isolation and mental health issues, with a fabulous Sewcialise session, and are also getting ready for our first course - participants are going to be upcycling duvets into PJ bottoms!

We were SEW excited to be given permission to use the PDF pattern for free in our course, with 5 full sets of seconds from none other than Tilly herself from ❤️❤️❤️🤩🤩🤩

It’s a busy week in the hive, we also start back with tomorrow, a session with our friends at and then a on Saturday!

18/09/2025

How wonderful to see Ann’s story getting published on the The National Lottery Community Fund social pages, showing the important impact our service has had for her 🤩🧵🤩

“I just don’t know what I’d have done without Sew Positive. It can be such a lonely thing, being a widow.”

Four years ago, Ann tragically lost her husband. After 40 years and what felt like a life-time of happy memories, Ann was bereft, and her grief was only compounded by the COVID pandemic. Restrictions on social interactions meant she felt isolated, and worse still, unable to give her husband the send-off he deserved.

For the first six months, Ann struggled to cope with her loss. But she knew that her family wanted her to find happiness again. That’s when Ann discovered Sew Positive – a funded project in Cambridgeshire that helped her meet new people, build her confidence, and give unwanted belongings the TLC they needed to be saved from landfill.

On the impact the project has had on her quality of life, Ann said: “Since joining the group, I go in a lot of charity shops and feel confident altering clothing. I’m quite short, so it’s nice to now have the skills and confidence to take up a decent pair of trousers when I find them. As a group, we’ve also made lamp shades from donated fabric, and plant pots from old plastic bottles and a pair of denim jeans. It’s really helped me build my confidence and make new friends, which I’m incredibly grateful for.”

16/09/2025

We had a final watch party and community supper tonight! It was brilliant to be joined by participants and volunteers, plus .henley1nhs Hannah, one of our Social Prescribers who frequently refers patients to our services (and Hannah is also a great knitting fan!), along with Karin, one of our trustees. We shared food, cake and cheers for the winner (no spoilers if you are watching on catch up!). For those that couldn’t make it, we’ve had a vibrant WhatsApp chat going so everyone feels like we are watching together…all these little ways help us to connect and share good moments. It was an opportunity to catch up on everyone’s wonderful projects and new folks to find out about our services too. Thank you everyone, especially the team at who kindly stayed late to make the event happen.

08/09/2025

CHANGED VENUE! We have moved watch party and community supper to The Meadows Community Centre, Arbury, on Tuesday Sept 16th 5.30pm to 10pm. Booking essential via Linktree. Come and share a supper, sewing and watching our favourites! 🧵⭐️🤩🍽️🎂🍰

09/08/2025

Being big fans of and here at the Sew Positive HQ hive, we’ve fitted Patrick out from donated and upcycled fabrics, including a smart bow tie from scrap Liberty tana lawn (from a baby outfit). We are going to raffle some of these kits at our Sewing Bee final watch party and community supper on 16 Sept….keep an eye on our Linktree for the sign up form…dropping soon to fundraise for our charity supporting marginalised groups in Cambridge - the UK’s most unequal city for wealth disparity.

What shall we dress Esme in? Put your suggestions in comments 👇🏼

29/07/2025

Our latest booking forms are now LIVE!

Head over to Linktree to sign up for our Taster Session with Sewing Machine sale on 19 Aug, our Sew Practical 8 week course, Sewing Cafe 4 on 27 Sept, and our AGM on 2 Sept!

You can also sign up for running the Cambridge Half Marathon 2026 and London Marathon Charity fundraising places for our campaign. 🎽🏃🏻🏅🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏽👟🏃🏿‍♀️

Please remember you need to sign up on our Main Admission form prior to singing up for our services, so we can check you meet our admissions criteria, which can be viewed on our website.

25/07/2025

We’re having a busy summer here at Hive HQ! This week, our Chair of Trustees, Jane, has been staying with our CEO for a productive week which included a Trustee Day, a day sorting data, and a Volunteer Engagement and Training day, followed by some material sorting and clearing ready for September. It has been so valuable and appreciated that our trustees (also volunteers) have been able to take this time to support the running of our small charity.

CEO Melissa has been writing funding applications, and dealing with the aftermath of multiple services at the end of term and needing a good sort out so she can get back in the office 🤣

We will be posting booking forms for services in the coming weeks so please keep an eye on our Linktree!

16/07/2025

Yesterday was a great reminder of how far our little charity has come…5 years later and CEO Melissa was giving a talk at who helped us during lockdown to set up our charity bank account, and have been a great support ever since. Brilliant to speak alongside .fieldhouse, talking to local businesses about our work and how best to support small charities like us. Paul gave excellent advice on working with business consultants, and how to get the best from those working relationships.

Our business collaboration with is a great example of innovative ways of a charity and business working together, and Melissa encouraged the audience to engage with small charities, offering suggestions of how.

A massive shout out to Simon Robinson who made this amazing reel and caught the vibe of the event! His link is in comments 🤩

Thanks to Ben Doughty and James Zimmerman-Smith at the bank for your support and wonderful breakfast! 🍉🍍🍈☕️

30/06/2025

We have 5 services in 3 days this week before term ends…busy!

Please make sure you wear light clothing, bring your own SPF, hat, water!🪭😎🧴

21/06/2025

Never too hot to sew! Powered by ice, cold drinks, upcycled fabric and community spirit, our saw work on our Community Quilt, progress on lots of Japanese Rice Bags, cushions, embroidery, a hot water bottle cover from an upcycled duvet, a doll’s apron (self-drafted pattern by Phoebe!) a fabric Noah’s Ark, a dress and appliqué crochet to cover up a curry stain on a top! Thanks to all our Ukrainian and Uk volunteers for helping today in melting conditions! 🤩🧵🤩

Why do we do it? One of our participants today said: “Thank you for today. That was a lovely balance of space and conversation. Thank you for continuing to allow me to experiment with my window of tolerance.”

Learning to understand our boundaries is so important, and our services help participants to do that, in a supportive setting where peers and volunteers get it too.

We are sending lots of care and support to volunteer Liliia who broke her leg on the way to volunteer at so couldn’t make today, we missed you Liliia, feel better soon 😭🥹🫂