Celebrating women with our new knitting project

We’re launching a new craft project to represent all the amazing work NCT continues to do – and we would love you to get involved

This year marks a century since women were granted the right to vote, thanks to the Suffragette movement.

As NCT has its foundations in championing women and their choices in pregnancy, birth and parenthood, we are celebrating this anniversary and launching a crafticism project to mark the milestone.

Our shared history: One of NCT's founders Erna Wright at an antenatal class in the 1960s

KnittingNCTtogether has been launched by NCT volunteers, practitioners and staff and we’re inviting everyone to join in.

All you have to do is knit or crochet 10cm squares in an NCT palette of colours as a celebration of all the different strands of NCT.

The squares will be stitched into baby blankets and we will then bring all the blankets together at the 2018 AGM to create a giant NCT blanket full of love and stories.

After the AGM the baby blankets will be donated to new mums, including those who are part of NCT’s Birth and Beyond Community Supporters project.

The colours we are working with are:

  • Light green to represent parents who have been supported by NCT
  • A darker green for NCT volunteers
  • Creamy white for NCT practitioners
  • Purple for NCT staff

These colours also mirror those of the Suffragette movement – green symbolising hope; white signifying purity; and purple representing dignity.

Picture of Emmeline Pankhurst to add

‘I firmly believe that the different strands of NCT don’t get together often enough in order to appreciate and celebrate what we all do to support parents and one another,’ says Rachel Plachcinski, volunteer, former practitioner and now NCT’s Research Engagement Officer, who kicked off this craftivism project.

She adds: ‘So many of us wear multiple hats and without us all NCT wouldn’t be as strong as it is. So I wanted to find a way to creatively bring us all together.’

Empowering women

The Representation of the People Act was passed on 6 February 1918 allowing women over 30 the right to vote, as well as all men over 21. It was a massive milestone for women on the road towards equal representation and democratic freedom and came after years of protesting by suffragettes and suffragists.

Get involved

You can find more instructions and patterns on the project’s blog site here, where you can also keep an eye on the latest news too.