The masthead

About Stitch & Story

A family embroidery house in Yaba since 2015, named for the idea that every name we stitch carries a story.

Our story

Babatunde Alade learned to embroider on his mother’s machine in Ibadan, stitching school badges for his classmates. After years as a printer in Yaba, he bought a single-head machine and set it up in the corner of the print shop. The first order was ten towels for a wedding.

Today Stitch & Story runs six machine heads, a hand-finishing table and a small digitising studio, with a team of nine. We still read every name aloud twice before stitching, a habit from the print shop, where one wrong letter meant reprinting a thousand cards.

Rows of white thread spools on a dark background

The staff

A tailor working at a sewing machine — **Mr Babatunde Alade**Founder and editor in chief

Two women in patterned dresses sewing fabric — **Mrs Ngozi Alade**Digitiser and lettering

A man sewing at his work station — **Kayode**Machine room

Our editorial principles

Spelling first. Every name is read back to you before stitching.
Proof before print. Corporate runs start with a photographed sample.
Quality thread. Colour-fast rayon and proper metallics, never cheap thread that frays.
Fair pay. Machine operators are salaried and trained, not paid per piece.
Privacy. Names and dates are deleted from our files after six months unless you ask us to keep them.

Colourful spools of thread on an industrial machine

The machine room

Six heads, each with fifteen needles, run from 8am to 6pm on an inverter and a generator so a power cut never stops a run. Visitors are welcome to watch from the counter; children love it.

Plan a visit