Pieces of Our Journey: An English Paper Piecing Quilt made by People with Breast Cancer

This exhibition is the culmination of Pink Stitch 2026, Cayr Charity's participatory textile arts programme for people with lived experience of breast cancer, delivered in collaboration with textile artist Emily Jo Gibbs. At the heart of the project is a collective quilt, made up of hundreds of individually hand-stitched hexagons. Each rosette was created by a person with lived experiences of breast cancer, using fabric and paper backings chosen for their own personal meaning. The materials might hold a memory, represent a place or person, mark a significant moment, or simply be something that felt important. Together, these individual pieces create a deeply personal portrait of a person’s experience with breast cancer. Throughout the programme, participants came together for online guided stitching sessions. These sessions offered time and space to learn, make and experiment, but also to connect and share experiences. Stitching became a way of bringing people together, creating opportunities for conversation, creativity and companionship. During the autumn, the participants came together once again to join their individual rosettes into one monumental collective quilt. The act of assembling the work transformed hundreds of separate contributions into a single physical representation of community, connection and collective strength. Each stitch tells a story. Each rosette represents an individual voice. Together, they speak to the thousands of different experiences of breast cancer and the strength, resilience and creativity found within them. The Art Worker’s Guild, London, 6 Queen Square, WC1N 3AT Nov 2026 | 9, 17 & 24 Nov Free Admission| Book Here