---
title: Crafting a Community
date: 2023-10-31T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/crafting-a-community"
section: Articles
---
# Crafting a Community

*October 31, 2023* — by [Maggie Haslam](/author/maggie-haslam)


> New Club Offers Space for Student Makers to Come as They Are

*Queer Crafting 10202023 RS 7503 1920x1080 — Kate Brown ’26 (right), uses a press to make a pin designed by Joidan Bentivenga ’27 (left), during Queer Crafting, a low-key campus crafting club for the LGBTQ+ community and their allies.*

When Maggie Ratcliffe ’26 created a club on campus for fellow crafters at the University of Maryland, she had no idea how tight-“knit” it would become.

[Queer Crafting](https://terplink.umd.edu/organization/queer_crafting), which the [Student Government Association](https://www.umdsga.com/) officially recognized in August, offers a welcome space for LGBTQ+ students and allies to make friends and make art, from crochet and costumes to paintings and paper crafts.

Queer people are often associated with crafting, said Ratcliffe, an elementary school education major; an informal poll at an LGBTQ+ welcome event her freshman year confirmed she was in good company.

“And I was like, what if I just go off the stereotype, because it’s kind of true?” she said.

Ratcliffe launched a Discord with a few other students within the LGBTQ+ community; the platform quickly grew as members shared craft projects, asked for advice and cheered each other’s successes. Ratcliffe worked with the [Office of Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy](https://stamp.umd.edu/mica/multicultural_involvement_community_advocacy) to secure a space, and members started cleaning out their parents’ closets for yarn, paint and other materials.


*close-up of hand wearing a rainbow ring coloring in a pink and orange circle*


*students with blue and purple hair smile over a colorful cloth and laptop — Michelle Berry ’27 (left), crochets a hexagon patterned cardigan while chatting with Jamie Brunty ’27 and a group of friends. "It's just people coming together, making stuff and having fun," said Berry. "It's awesome."*




**Topics:** [Campus & Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community)


**Tags:** [Student Experience](https://today.umd.edu/topic/student-experience)


**Units:** [Division of Student Affairs](https://today.umd.edu/topic/division-student-affairs)