Before Not Ladylike Community was even a whisper of a dream, I was part of a tight knit crafting community. We gathered at a local scrapbooking store in Edmonton for crops, and would head out of town for a weekend retreat every fall. Those women became dear friends, and it frustrates me that I let those connections unravel – for reason or another.
It wasn’t until the mid teens that I started attempting to bring back some of what I had lost. Art Night resurrected a bit of the feelings of community, but was unsustainable through the height of the pandemic lockdowns and its move online. Turns out what I was craving was an in-person community that couldn’t quite be replicated on zoom. It was a take on the “stitch and bitch” format, but expanding into any art or craft practice you wanted to work on. And to be honest, I wasn’t comfortable with the associations of these clubs as “women only”.
Once we were confident to meet in person again – with some safety measures in place – the Not Ladylike Community started Crafternoon! in February 2023. A request for a hall rental turned into an offer to run this as a Ritchie Community League event. Happy one year anniversary to us!
This casual gathering of crafters has quickly become a favourite! Seeing the assortment of crafts and crafters is so exciting. Hearing people’s stories of what brought them to us is even more so, and renews our commitment to this quarterly event. I hope that the attendees foster connections that stretch beyond their time in the hall. But it takes times to learn names and even more time to build trust.
I made some of the best friends of my adult life thanks to Treasured Memories. Crafternoon is still new, but there’s hope for it yet! And even better, we are doing it with safety and accessibility for ALL crafters as a top priority.
Then what? What’s next for Crafternoon? We have high hopes to take it from a “simple” seasonal crafting gathering and moving it into a strong community building initiative. Where folks can meet their future baby – or dog – sitters, share skills that will carry them through hard times, and organize toward a stronger and healthier future.
There is a lot of inspiration out there for groups of crafters taking their shared love of a craft into advocacy, organizing, and activism. I am new to all of that, so we will be learning together! The first step is getting the word out there.
Check.
CRAFTERNOON DETAILS
Crafternoon runs four times a year, in February, May, August, and November at the Ritchie Community League hall. Click here to learn more and register for the next event.
FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES
How craft events build a thriving crafting community
The Art and Craft of Community Building
Reimagining craft for community development
How to set up a craft club in your community
Not Ladylike Community 