Can you give us a hand?

If you've been reading along with us you've got some sense of what we're planning for A Gathering of Stitches.  You've read about some of our teachers (more coming!), you know how our workshops will be set up, you know we have studios for rent, and you've heard about all the equipment we're going to house. We will continue to discuss our philosophy, our whys and wherefores, our passions, our goals and dreams in the days and weeks ahead. We will also share with you the process of building out and setting up our space. If you want even more you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter(@GatherStitches), or Pinterest.  But right now we need to ask you for some help. 

We have launched an IndieGoGo crowd funding campaign for A Gathering of Stitches. You can find it here.  Will you help us out with some support? The main goal of the campaign is to raise money to buy the fabulous equipment we want to have available for this community. We have done most of the heavy lifting in terms of getting the space, setting up our systems, and kitting out the rest of it out, but we're using all our financial resources. We have big dreams for A Gathering of Stitches and with a little help from our friends we can make them come true. Remember about a month ago we talked about making a video? Well when you click through to the campaign you will find it there. We are so proud of the video. It was made by dear friends of A Gathering of Stitches, Rusticator Pictures, who are a perfect example of the creative community here in Portland, Maine.  The cast of our little film was a lovely sample of the talented and enthusiastic stitchers that you'll find when we open our doors. We hope you love the video as much as we loved making it!

For those who are unfamiliar with IndieGoGo, crowd funding is a newer method of raising capital for an idea by asking many folks for a little bit, as opposed to asking a big piece from one place (like a bank or your parents, or your credit card). IndieGoGo is an alternative to Kickstarter, a platform that may be more familiar to others, but is administered by Amazon, not my favorite folks. IndieGoGo is just as safe and secure as Kickstarter, but more user-friendly and run by a more sustainable group.  Crowd funding is akin to the patronage ways of days gone by. As the Medicis did for Da Vinci, will you contribute to our cause and help us build this communal space?  We will be forever grateful for any monetary help you can give us. If that is not a possibility for you, then help us out by spreading the word!  Crowd funding works best by word of mouth, especially on social media like Facebook and Twitter! So share us with your friends and your family, your roommates, your college pals, your colleagues, your dog walker, your babysitter, anyone you can think of!  Very soon we will be in the space and this blog will be full of pictures of our progress! Help us get there! Go to the campaign: A Gathering of Stitches IndieGoGo.