Pieces of Our Journey:

An English Paper Piecing Quilt made by People with Breast Cancer

A collective quilt made from hundreds of individual stories, stitched together through creativity, connection and shared experience.

This exhibition is the culmination of Pink Stitch 2026, a participatory textile arts programme for people with lived experience of breast cancer, delivered by Cayr Charity 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 hexagonal rosettes. 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 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.

24 Oct - 03 Nov 2026

The Artworker’s Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AT

Free admission | Booking Required