It began, as so many beautiful things do, with a poem.

I was reading Sharon Owens’ brilliant piece Dangerous Coats - a light-hearted, pointed poem about women being denied pockets throughout history, because they might use them to carry “sedition.” That single word – unrest, resistance, fairness – sparked something in me. I thought, what if we stitched that sedition? What if we carried it visibly? And just like that, the Dangerous Pockets Project was born.

Dangerous Coats by Sharon Owens
Someone clever once said
Women were not allowed pockets
In case they carried leaflets
To spread sedition
Which means unrest
To you and me
A grandiose word
For common sense
Fairness
Kindness
Equality
So ladies, start sewing
Dangerous coats
Made of pockets & sedition.

I invited people to send me hand-stitched pockets - any shape, any style, any message. They came in slowly at first, mostly from my local community. But then... they kept coming. From across the UK. Then Europe. Then all over the world.

By the end of 2019, over 400 pockets had arrived. Some were joyful. Some were heartbreakingly honest. Some were wild and fierce and full of mischief. Every one of them carried something real.

I threaded them - ten feet at a time - onto long lengths of red cord, symbolic of the thread that joins women together across distance, age, and experience. In the end, there were 25 full cords of pockets.

We launched the project on International Women’s Day 2019 at Essex University. It then went on to tour the UK and was even on display through lockdown in Harlow from March to September 2020. Plans to take the project to Tasmania and the Gold Coast were sadly halted by the pandemic, but the ripple of creativity had already spread.

The Project in a Pocket-Sized Summary:

• Over 400 pockets

• Contributions from every continent (except Antarctica!)

• Stories of resilience, memory, identity, protest, and joy

• Magazine features, newspaper articles, a live BBC Essex radio interview, and even a nod on ITV News

• And most importantly – real conversations about wellbeing, healing, and the power of making

Many people said that creating their pocket was cathartic. Some stitched their way through grief, illness, surgery, or old emotional wounds. Others were surprised to find how freeing and playful it was. Quite a few got hooked and sent more than one!

Here are just a few of the stories stitched into the project:

My Pockets by AR
"I always begin making a dress with the pocket—it all flows from there. When a garment wears out, I snip off the pocket and stitch it onto something new. I suppose I am a Pocket Predator! I never throw anything away that still has a story left in it."
Anne inspired her sewing group, the Paradise Point Creative Craft Group in Australia (mostly in their 80s), to send 34 pockets packed inside a handmade Dillybag. Last I heard, they were stitching another batch to send!

My Mother’s Apron Pocket by MN
"My pocket represents my late mum and her apron. I used bits from her sewing box and scraps of her clothes. It carries the softness and strength she gave me. The white handkerchief stitched into it? That was for wiping mucky faces... and for unexpected tears."

Womb Pocket by LL
Lyn created her pocket to open a conversation around contraception – a topic often seen as controversial, though it touches countless lives. Her piece speaks to the historic control men have had over women’s reproductive choices, and the lingering shame or secrecy that still surrounds the subject today.
“There are hidden pocket wombs worldwide,” Lyn says, “holding untold secrets. Some make hearts ache. Others carry joy, love, and precious memory. But this—our womb—is perhaps the most secret pocket of all.”

Mr Wrong and Escape – Anonymous
"Here are my two Dangerous Pockets. The first, 'Mr Wrong,' is scruffy and raw, stitched from scraps that represent a 25-year abusive marriage. It is held together with safety pins and knots, made from a daughter’s jeans pocket, a mother-in-law’s curtains, a wedding dress, children’s clothes… all stitched with pain and memory."

"The second pocket, 'Escape,' tells a new story – of help received, of finding peace, of discovering beauty again. It honours the quiet heroes: Refuge, support workers, survivors. It is an act of courage, just sending this. Leaving was only the beginning."

Transform by TP
Terri was one of the first to respond to the call for pockets. She created hers from unwanted bras following breast surgery. “The project came along at just the right time,” she wrote. “Immersing myself in something like this gave me a place to process my emotions.”

Daddy’s Little Flower by JC
“My pocket is made from my dad’s gardening jeans. I filled it with cascading flowers to reflect the life he nurtured. He used to call me his little flower. The ladybird fabric is for my grandsons, he never met them, but I like to think his love continues through them.”

What started as a spark from a poem became a global stitching conversation. Not just about pockets. But about power. About voice. About stitching the invisible into something seen.

And yes, maybe about sedition too - the gentle, beautiful kind.

To be continued...?
One day, I would love to exhibit all the pockets again, maybe even complete that Australian tour - but for now, they rest safely in my summer house.

If you ever made one, thank you, it was the start of my journey to inspire women creatively.