Welcome to Stitch Buffalo

Stitch Buffalo staff, volunteers, artists, and board members are proud to introduce you to our community and our program.
We hope you’ll be inspired to join us—in person or in spirit—to celebrate the power of creativity in building diverse and equitable communities!

INTRODUCTION (13 minutes)—Stitch Buffalo is an inclusive space for refugee and immigrant women to create handcrafted goods and find economic empowerment; a textile art center for community members to gain and share skills in the textile arts; and an organization committed to stewarding the environment through the re-use of textile supplies. We are located in Buffalo, NY.

SOCIAL JUSTICE STITCHED STORIES (3:57 minutes)—"Social Justice Stitched Stories" was a 2021-2022 program designed to engage local students and community members with Stitch Buffalo's Refugee women artists, staff, and volunteers in a collaborative textile arts project. In a process facilitated by diversity and inclusion professionals, we examined social justice issues (such as racism, discrimination, gun violence, socioeconomic and educational inequity, xenophobia, cultural barriers, stereotyping, and mental health). Based on these conversations, participants created “stitched stories” reflecting our lived experiences. The final work was shown in an exhibition at the Burchfield Penney Art Gallery in January/February 2022. This program was funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor of New York and the New York State Legislature; administered by Arts Services Inc.

WEAVING WELLNESS (2:19 minutes)—In the “Weaving Wellness” program, professionals from the arts program at Oishei Children's Hospital work alongside Stitch Buffalo Executive Director Dawne Hoeg to engage adolescents from OCH’s outpatient behavioral health clinic in textile arts activities that foster creativity, health, and well-being.

WEAVING WITH STEVEN TEE (1:47 minutes)—Learn how Steven Tee, a teenage weaver living in Buffalo, NY, began learning to use a traditional backstrap loom in an effort to preserve his Karen family's cultural heritage. The Karen people are indigenous to the Thailand-Burma border region in Southeast Asia and are one of the many ethnic groups in the country presently known as Burma or Myanmar. The Karen have been under oppression in Burma for hundreds of years, with the tension reaching a high point after World War II. As a result, the Karen have fled to Thailand and resettled to third countries as refugees.

TOGETHER WE STITCH (41 seconds)—This short film was created for Stitch Buffalo's 2020 Annual Appeal, centered on the theme "Together We Stitch"—and all the ways that concept manifests itself in our studio, our art, our community, and the lives of our artists.

A DYEING STORY: COMMUNITY CLASSES AT STITCH BUFFALO (1:20)—See footage from one of our shibori indigo dyeing classing and hear the experiences of one of our students, who found her community here after recently moving to the area.

What Brings You to Stitch Buffalo Today?

In late 2021, we spent some time talking to the people who came through our doors—artists, volunteers, staff members, shoppers, students, and more. Here's what they had to say about Stitch Buffalo.

PERSONAL EXPRESSION (1 minute)—Did you know that each Stitch Buffalo artist has creative control of her own designs? We never tell artists what colors or stitches to use. We simply put materials in their hands and let the magic happen—and continue to grow, project by project, as each artist develops in her practice.

EMPOWERING WOMEN (40 seconds)—Stitch Buffalo strives to empower Refugee and Immigrant women through the textile arts, and to share this sense of empowerment with the community as a whole.