Community FAQ
What is the mission of SewQueer?
Our Mission is to foster a space dedicated to sewing for every body, through making, community, resilience, and the queer power of imagining new futures.
Am I welcome here?
That’s a question that you get to answer, not us. Read through the following FAQ and decide if this is a place for you or not.
Why are you called SewQueer?
Well, we love a pun! Why we are SewQueer, rather than making use of an acronym such as LGBT/LGBTQIA+, relates to a number of the uses and histories of the word “queer.” A few include:
That queer was a term used in-community long before it was widely adopted as a slur. Using it as a self-identifier is a way to reclaim it.
That queer allows a more capacious approach to building a community made up of people with many different understandings of their own personal identities. An acronym such as LGBTQIA+ suggests that you must claim one of the terms (or be relegated to the nebulous “+”) in order to belong. Queer, on the other hand, may include many ways of being outside of cisgender, heterosexual norms, including those for which we do not yet have recognized terms.
That queer carries with it a political history of defiance, resilience, and future imaginings that seek to overturn the status quo and create a more equitable future.
Do I have to use queer as my own identifier in order to be here?
Not at all! We use queer here as a broad umbrella covering a wide range of ways of being in the world outside of cisgender, heterosexual norms. Members of the SewQueer community are queer, gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, and demisexual; are trans, non-binary, genderqueer, agender, and intersex; are many other words and ways and combinations thereof.
What does sewing have to do with identity?
SO MUCH. Our identities depend on both the ways we feel in our bodies, emotions, and movements and in the ways we relate to other people. Clothing and other material objects are the interface between those two parts of identity, the personal and the social. Clothing helps us affirm our genders, present in ways that signal to the world who we are, and connect us to communities. Making can be a vital way of caring for oneself and for others. Queer relationships and communities face additional hardships in the world, and making gives us spaces to affirm our bonds and imagine new ways of being.
I don’t totally understand all these terms!
That’s okay! We’re all always learning! For more information on terms commonly used within queer communities, check out this glossary from UCDavis.
Okay, I’m straight and cisgender - do I belong here?
If you do not identify anywhere under the broad queer and trans umbrella, SewQueer is not primarily intended for you. However, you are welcome as a visiting guest. Come in, take a back seat, and listen.
Shop FAQ
When will my order ship?
Orders ship within a week of purchase, unless the shop is on an announced hiatus. Orders that include one or more PREORDERS will ship all together when the preorder item is available.
How much is shipping? Where do you ship?
Shipping is currently $1 within the United States, $2 to Canada, or $3 to anywhere else in the world. Additional taxes and customs fees may apply upon entry to another country and are the responsibility of the customer. Shipping is via untracked USPS.
I have an idea for a label!
Cool! Email us at info@sewqueer.org. We are interested in collaborating with other queer makers, especially those whose identity intersections differ from those already represented.