How it Began

What originally began as a small sewing circle to help promote a healthy social life among recently resettled women, has now evolved into a large-scale support system and social enterprise for Afghan refugees here in the Greater Hartford Area.

Recognizing the desire for Afghan women to build community and financially support their families, we created our innovative program in April 2022 with the goal to work with a small group of women, offering sewing lessons to four Afghan women with the help of one volunteer in the basement of one of their homes. However, the next week our group had doubled to eight women, and then twelve, and by May we had 20 women! To date, we have had over 40 women participate in our program!

Social Enterprise Sewing Program

What Makes Us Different

While we would love to take credit for brilliant marketing, we did little to no advertising with the Afghan community- our group continues to grow through word of mouth in the community.

One of the largest, if not the largest, deterrent for refugee mothers is childcare. A shocking number of programs, including English as a Second Language (ESL), do not provide childcare for programs targeting immigrant women, leading to further isolation at home. As a result, our sewing program provides free childcare for its participants while attending class, staffed by dedicated volunteers.

Additionally, we do not restrict our program to just recently arrived refugees. We recognize the need for community for all refugee women.

Our continuous growth over the past 2 years proves that not only do the women enjoy coming to sewing, but that we’re filling a gap of services needed by refugee women in the area. While sewing gets the women through the door, our sewing program is about so much more than learning a valuable skill- our program builds community by connecting these often-isolated women, empowers them to learn new skills, and allows them to financially contribute.

"This is the first thing I've had for myself outside the home since I arrived here 5 years ago."

Donate Supplies and Equipment

We would not be able to operate our program without the continued support from the community. In order to keep our overhead minimal, we rely on donations of fabric, machines, and sewing notions, along with financial donations. Additionally, please come visit us at craft fairs in the community, our calendar of upcoming events can be found on our website.

How Can You Help

Purchase Our Handmade Items

We invite you to shop for our unique, handmade items in our Online Shop.

You can also find our products at various in-person locations and events. If you are interested in selling our products at your store, organization, or event, please Contact Us.

Get Involved

If you are a refugee woman and are interested in joining Sewing for Success, please contact Deborah at dzanella@refugeewomenscenterct.org.

If you are interested in volunteering, please visit our Volunteer page or learn more about our volunteer opportunities, which include the following:

Assistant Sewing Teacher
Childcare Volunteer and Childcare Program Development
Craft Fairs and Farmers’ Markets: identify, apply to, and staff tables at events