Cross Cultural Encounters Through Embroidery

The Stitching Together events were to acknowledge and celebrate the rich cultural diversity amidst our Burlington community through Embroidery. It is a craft which has a long history, but also a technique which has evolved over time and still attracts people of different age groups as we observed at our five thematic workshops. The format was a combination of lecture- demonstrations and hands-on instructions for culture specific embroidery patterns from Syria, India, Palestine, Egypt and Germany. These workshops were hosted by a team of talented facilitators at different locations within the city. This enabled us to reach out to a large demographic cutting across municipal ward boundaries, socio-economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

The final outcome is a community engaged tapestry, consisting of embroidered maple leaves, which is symbolic of our diverse cultural backgrounds and the common bond we share in calling Canada ‘our home and native land….true north strong and free.’