Touring "The Cube" with Stitch Buffalo

In June, I posted about the exciting news, that Stitch Buffalo would be supersizing its headquarters from Niagara Street to Ellicott Development’s “The Cube” building located at 284 Plymouth Avenue, near the corner of Connecticut Street.

Moments ago, I toured the currently vacant facility with Dawne Hoeg, founder and executive director of Stitch Buffalo. We started the tour at the building’s front facade, where Dawne pointed out that the majority of it would be glass. There will be a central door, and a shipping door, where Second Stitch (the sustainable arm of the operation) will collect donated fabrics. In the back of the building, a patio will be set up, featuring a garden with natural dye plants. There will also be room to park 15 cars on the Connecticut Street side of the building.

Inside the facility, the space will be an open floor plan. To the right, Second Stitch will run its sustainability program, upcycling the repurposed fabric donations. A retail shop will be centrally located, just inside the entranceway. Behind that will be where much of the action takes place.

“It’s the Refugee Women’s Workshop,” said Dawne. “Visitors will be able to see everything as it is being made. There will be home sewing and industrial sewing, with small scale manufacturing. The big excitement will be the community table – we’re bringing it back. This is where people can work together and share resources. It’s a social component. The tables will be on casters, so that we can wheel them out of the way for bigger events. We will have a kitchenette, and a dedicated volunteer workspace. We will have a ‘wet area,’ for block printing, screen printing, and natural dying. Volunteers will teach the refugee women to do more things, so that they can expand their skills and product lines.”

Already, Dawne and her team are making an impact on the neighborhood. They have eaten lunch, as a group outing, at the neighboring Armory Restaurant, which has a handy gathering space in the back of the eatery. Establishing close ties with local businesses, and furthering existing ties with the likes of D’Youville University, are key to the success of Stitch Buffalo, according to Dawne.

Once open, Stitch Buffalo will host summer camps, community classes, and even the occasional pizza and bagel pop-ups. Dawne’s husband, Rolf, is the owner of Rolf’s Bread, which is a mobile wood-fired pizza oven that usually sets up at The Blueberry Treehouse Farm.

Stitch Buffalo has signed a 15 year lease for the space. In the near future, a mural will be painted on the Connecticut Street side of the building, which will add a ton of vibrancy, especially in the wintertime. It will also be an excellent artistic marketing billboard for the operation. Above Stitch Buffalo, Ellicott Development is planning to build out six apartments.

All-in-all, it’s these types of projects that make us all happy and proud. It’s also what makes Buffalo a very special place. We are very lucky to have Dawne and the Stitch Buffalo team working so hard to make this an exceptional city… and a welcoming city, filled with a colorful menagerie of people and their DIY projects.

Get connected (and support): www.stitchbuffalo.org