Yulia and her family have been displaced twice. They were forced to leave Luhansk in 2015 and Sievierodonetsk in 2024. Initially, the family sought refuge in the Ivano-Frankivsk region before moving to Kyiv.

Yulia worked as an economist before the full-scale invasion. However, she had been harboring an idea for needlework for a long time. In February 2022, she finally bought a sewing machine but never found the time to use it.

The terrible news was overwhelming, so I decided to occupy myself by volunteering at the organization ‘SpivDiya Clothes,’ says the craftswoman.

Yulia was fortunate that the owner of the house they settled in near Kyiv was a seamstress and left her sewing machine there.

Yulia makes different types of hats. She began by sewing panamas and later started knitting hats.

The craftswoman’s assortment varies by season. She is currently developing new ideas to satisfy her customers during the spring.