Victoria Hill, a former celebrity fashion stylist, is usually busy running her children’s clothing boutique. Instead, she turned her creative mind to make items needed by key workers during Covid-19 and decided to set up a Facebook group. Six weeks later, the group called ‘Crafting for Covid’ is a thriving community of people handcrafting with her. They’ve made over 6,000 items so far and have just been given the Community Champion Award.
At this time of year Victoria is normally away, trading as Little Stylish Me, at big public events like Hickstead and the South of England show. Over 500 people have joined her group, including some children, making a variety of needed items including scrubs, headbands, ear savers (used with masks), skull caps, visors and scrub bags. Some of those people have never followed a fabric pattern before. Members of the crafting group also make beautiful knitted or felt hearts that hospital staff give to families that lose loved ones and are not permitted to be with them in hospital. All finished items are quality-checked by Sue Nea and Charlotte Compton and hand-delivered by volunteers to a wide range of places that include hospitals, nursing homes, take-aways, hospices, delivery companies, GP surgeries and vets. With schools due to re-open for some year groups next week, requests have also grown from teachers and support staff at primary schools.
Victoria is up at 5am every day bagging items ready to go out. Sarah Priest, who normally works at Aspire Sussex, is her right hand lady. “She has been a superstar helping out, particularly with the admin, I have dyslexia so I find things like that take me longer. Sarah is a single, disabled Mum of two, yet she does all the order sheets for me every day.”
She went on to say, “I’ve avoided items classed as official PPE because it’s a risky area and big companies with equipment have taken that task on. I started by making headbands with buttons on and I never thought my idea would turn into something so huge. Even my 6 year old daughter is helping out, she designed the logo and all the official thank you and heart labels. The volunteers are incredible, the nights are late but it’s so worth it when we make someone’s day a little more bearable and we receive lovely messages of appreciation” said Victoria.
Many people in the group have posted about their ‘making’ giving them a needed positive focus during lockdown. Ellie Stringer from Worthing who suffers with agoraphobia and depression said “18 years ago I had a complete breakdown and phobia to the point where I couldn’t even touch the front door let alone go outside. My conditions have a habit of coming back in times of stress and I found myself starting to make excuses to not even walk the dog or go out in the garden, due to panic attacks. The group and the crafting has kept my mind busy and I’ve even been out in my car doing deliveries. It’s been an absolute lifeline, stopping my phobia tendencies from taking hold.”
The group has had sponsorship from local print company PEP and support from Asda, The Range, Tesco, Worthing Community Chest and Worthing Lions amongst others. But Victoria needs to know which organisations still need to receive items. “The community spirit is amazing and members of Crafting for Covid are providing me with bundles of items on a daily basis, so we want to get these out to anyone that needs them, they are encouraged to get in touch.”
If your organisation needs handmade protective wear or hearts, please get in contact with Victoria or Sarah via craftingforcovid@hotmail.com
