Sewing FOR Grandma: The Bridgerton Ball

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Sarah Hill

Dr. Sarah Ashley Hill is a psychologist and lupus warrior who started sewing in 2019, after learning that she had a severe form of lupus nephritis. Having had a knack for fashion from a young age, Sarah has used sewing as an articulation of her style and to suit her current lifestyle.

Lisa Woolfork

Lisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English, specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory and American slavery. She is the convener and founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. #Charlottesville. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation.

Insights from this episode:

• How Sarah got started in sewing
• How diagnosis with lupus led to her sewing journey
• Sarah’s lupus journey
• Sarah’s pursuit of creativity 
• Sewing her grandma’s Bridgerton Ball

Quotes from the show:

• “An artist has to create, so it wasn’t an option for me to not do something with this creative energy. Even if the body was breaking down, not creating, not finding beauty or making beauty was not an option” -Sarah Hill in “Stitch Please”
• “It’s not going to kill me [lupus], or if it kills me, it’s gonna kill me doing what I am gonna do [sewing]” -Sarah Hill in “Stitch Please”
• “What you can’t do and can’t control is your attitude, your outlook, the space in your heart, the vision that you have, and those who you’ve allowed to hold that vision with you and for you” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”
• “We all get to claim our time, and we do not have to live by someone else’s calendar or somebody else’s clock” -Lisa Woolfork in “Stitch Please”
• “If you wanna do something, just go try it, and if you do not have the resources, there are plenty of organizations like sewing communities if you do not have a sewing machine” -Sarah Hill in “Stitch Please”

Stay Connected:

Lisa Woolfork

Instagram: Lisa Woolfork

Twitter: Lisa Woolfork

Sarah Hill

Instagram: Sarah Hill

Website: Sewing for Myself 

This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry.