Week one of raising £15,000 for my dream studio on wheels, wobbles and all.

I want to start this week's roundup with the honest bit, because there's been so much to celebrate this week, but none of it would feel true if I skipped over how I've actually been feeling.

Going inward, and getting out of my own way

I launched Repair on the Road with this whole idea of just rolling with the content day by day, so none of it would be staged and everything I shared would be a genuine response to how the crowdfunder was going. What I didn't expect was that after putting it all out there, I'd naturally go inward. I thought I was doing ok, but when I went to my coach this week to ask them how they keep the momentum going with something like this, I realised I was actually hiding myself.

That level of exposing something, asking for help out loud and sharing my wildest dream with the world all sat on my shoulder, and for a split second I was like "who the fuck am I?" It's funny really, because being audacious AF is literally the whole challenge for this part of my year with 365, and yet the moment I actually did the audacious thing, a bit of me wanted to retreat back to the back bedroom and carry on quietly like I always have.

After the pep talk from my coach, and really sitting in it with myself, I realised that if I'm not out there talking about this and being a bit delusional, then I'm not going to get there, and that's something I could heavily regret. I spent a lot of time journalling around the question "what would your 80 year old self say when they look back on your life?", and every time I come back to it the answer is that she'd want me to go for it. I really needed to get out of my own god damn way and make it happen.

So yes, we're a little under target at this point, but the fire I've got in me right now to go and get it is really flaming, and this week has given me so many reasons to keep going.

A cheque in the post

One of those reasons arrived in the post in the form of a cheque from a customer who’s clothes I’ve fixed over the years. It was the thoughtful wording of his note that really got me, because this human recognised that I'd helped him in the past and wanted to get behind the fundraiser to help me in return. It made me feel so valued, and it's a reminder of why repair has always been about so much more than the stitches for me, because every repair comes with a person and a story attached.

It felt really nice to sit down and actually write him a letter of thanks back, pen and paper and everything, and it's made me realise I now want a penpal, so if you're someone who still loves sending and receiving proper post, let me know!

Funding a stranger's mentoring

Two incredible humans have funded a stranger's mentoring place this week, so a big shout out to Corinne, a previous mentee of mine, and Lou, my niece. This reward means so much to me because I know how often mentoring sits out of reach for the repair artists and sewists who need it most, especially when you're trying to build a livelihood from your craft on a low income, and seeing people I care about pay that forward to someone they've never met makes me super emotional.

Each place funds a 90 minute 1:1 Quick Unpick session with me, and I'm opening applications on Monday 5th October. If you're a repair artist or sewist on a low income who could do with that kind of support, whether you're not getting enough work in or you're drowning in it and undercharging, keep your eyes on my Instagram on Monday because that's where the application will go live.

A shared dream

I've had so many conversations this week with other repair artists and sewists, and it's become really clear that this isn't just my dream, it's a shared one, and it just needed one of us to say it out loud and make it happen. Since moving everything home at the start of 2024 I've felt pretty isolated at times, and I know from these conversations that I'm not the only one stitching away on my own in a back bedroom.

That's a big part of why the van matters so much to me, because as well as taking repair out to festivals, markets and events, I want it to become a hub that brings us together. I keep dreaming up a convoy of us next year, all heading to a campsite together to stitch, connect and swap skills, and the more people I talk to, the more possible that feels.

Almost at 10%, and why sharing is enough

We're almost at 10% of the target today, and I'm so bloody grateful for every single pledge. The messages of support have honestly flooded in, and what really gets me the most is when people tell me they're not in a financial position to help, because I feel that in my gut. I've been self-employed for ten years and I know exactly what it's like when money is tight, so I never want anyone to feel bad about not being able to pledge.

What I want to normalise is that sharing the campaign, engaging with it and talking about it with your network is enough, and this week has proved it, because I've had friends' mums and strangers' bosses pledge, all because someone showed them the campaign. Every share puts Repair on the Road in front of someone I'd never be able to reach on my own.

Chip in a Quid

With that in mind, this week I added Chip in a Quid to the crowdfunder, and just imagine if 8,000 people pledged £1, because that would be over half of the target in one go!

This idea is fully inspired by my coach Calypso. Last year they went to strangers on the internet and asked for £1 to raise money to surprise their wife with IVF treatment, and I was one of the people who chipped in a quid, which is actually how I found my way to them as a coach. They raised £13,000, and the best part is that their wife is now pregnant and they're having their baby this December. I've seen first hand what a quid from a lot of people can do, and I truly believe it can help get this van on the road too.

People can already picture it

The last thing that's made my week is people messaging me to say "you should apply for this" or "this would be amazing at that". I'm yet to actually book any workshops in with the van, but just hearing that people can already visualise it at their event is incredible, and every one of those suggestions is going straight onto my list of festivals and events to apply to, so please keep them coming.

So that's where I'm at, a little wobbly at the start of the week and finishing it with a fire in my belly and a whole lot of gratitude. Thank you to every single one of you who has pledged, shared, sent a message or shown the campaign to someone, because it all counts and it's all helping get Repair on the Road out on the road. If you haven't seen it yet, you can find the crowdfunder here, and if a quid is what you've got, a quid is more than enough.

You can follow along all the content I share to on my instagram too - it’s one hella ride over there.