During my collaboration with On the Road Cooperativa Sociale and Votes for People, I had the opportunity to develop a fashion and sewing workshop for women participating in different projects and services, including SAI (Integrated Reception Service), Accoglienza Tratta, Anti-Violence Centres and PRIDE – Centre against Discrimination.

The workshop was based on a simple idea: learning by doing.

During the sessions, we worked with fabrics, patterns, cutting and sewing, learning how to use sewing machines and exploring different possibilities through the materials. For some participants, it was their first experience with sewing; for others, it was an opportunity to reconnect with skills they already had.

Beyond learning a technique, I was interested in creating a space where they could concentrate on something concrete, experiment and discover their own abilities.

Little by little, each participant began creating her own garments. There was something particularly beautiful about the process: starting with a piece of fabric, an idea or a pattern and eventually seeing something appear that had not existed before.

At the end of the workshop, the participants presented the garments they had created during the course. As a conclusion to the project, we also organised a photo session and a fashion show, where they themselves presented their creations.

It was a way of sharing the results of their work, but also of occupying the space from a different position: not simply as participants in a project, but as women who had created something with their own hands and could stand proudly behind what they had made.

For me, projects like this have always been about learning, creating and finding, through something concrete, a different way of relating to ourselves and to others.