Mary Linwood Connected Threads Project
A community textile project related to Mary Linwood, Leicester’s forgotten embroidery celebrity! Connected Threads is about making textiles together, remembering all the unknown women who have embroidered and sewn. We are working together to make a giant skein of thread using cord-making processes and donated wool thread. The finished work will be showcased in an exhibition about Mary Linwood in autumn 2025 at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, New Walk.
This exhibit is on the Saturday only.
website: https://ruthsinger.com/mary-linwood/
email: ruth@ruthsinger.com
BEAUTIFULcloth SAORI Studio
Amanda L’Anson is a mixed media textile artist, specialising in a Japanese form of freeform weaving called ‘Saori’. She practises this unique style of weaving, whilst holding regular workshops on her specially designed floor looms, from her studio, BEAUTIFULcloth SAORI Studio in Sheaf St, Daventry.
Amanda’s woven cloth is textural, richly coloured and sculptural, using a variety of unexpected materials, found objects and techniques to create cloth which reflects her experiences, inspirations and explorations. In Japan they say ‘you weave yourself’! She is particularly inspired by the marks, colours and textures of nature: whether it be interesting coastlines, the reflections and ripples in water, or weathered stone or rust. Her curiosity and urge to explore new ideas and materials, means that her work is constantly changing and she maintains her passion and excitement with every new creation.
Amanda is passionate about inspiring others to use their creativity to produce beautiful and individual woven cloth. She regularly runs two hour taster sessions and weaving days, suitable for all ages and abilities. Gift vouchers for these sessions make perfect and popular gifts. Amanda also enjoys working on commissioned work and has recently completed 19 woven panels for the refurbished Ansty Hall Hotel reception area and restaurant.
email: amanda@beautifulcloth.co.uk
website: http://beautifulcloth.co.uk/
Spinning in the Shires (Twyford Woolly Day and Guild of Long Draw Spinners)
Fleece to fabric: We are two groups of textile enthusiasts: spinners, weavers, felters, dyers, knitters and needleworkers. We work from raw materials to finished product. Our exhibit will show examples of hand spun, woven items, natural dyed fabrics and yarns, knitting, felting and needlework. We meet regularly in Twyford Village Hall and Stoke Albany Village Hall to share ideas and skills and will demonstrate during our exhibit. We would encourage visitors to try spinning and small loom weaving, and come and join our groups. We often run workshops on particular textile skills run by experts (most recently, tapestry weaving, felted flowers, free form crochet).
email: maryeharlow1@gmail.com
Lincs In Stitches
My name is Karen Lane and I’m a mixed media textile artist with a particular passion for Wet Felting. I take inspiration from the natural world and my latest body of work is ocean inspired, made to the theme of “Making Waves”. This sees a (temporary?) shift from the very neutral colour palette I normally work with, although there will be a few of those, to a more colourful range of blues, greens and gold.
As well as creating my own work, experimenting with colour, texture and form, I get great satisfaction from teaching others. I run creative workshops for groups of up to 15 participants anywhere in the UK as well as small group and one-one classes in my home studio in Horncastle. All workshops can be tailored to your individual/groups requirements so if you would like more information stop by for a chat at the show or get in touch via my website or email.
website: https://lincsinstitches.com/
email: lincsinstitches@gmail.com
Leicestershire Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers
We aim to promote the art of using fibres to be spun, woven or felted.
email: secretaryleicestershirewsd@gmail.com
Waltham Windmill Textile Group
The Waltham Windmill Textile Group currently comprises of eight members, all with a passion for creating mixed media textile art and Feltmaking. We set ourselves challenges, working to a theme which lasts for two years and culminates in an exhibition held at the Waltham Windmill site in north Lincolnshire. Our theme for the past two years has been “Making Waves” and we have produced a variety of 2d and 3D pieces with an underwater vibe. This is our first time exhibiting as a group at The Big Textile Show and we are very excited to be bringing our display to Leicester!
email: jackyhopkin46@gmail.com
Rocheberie Schoolhouse Quilters
Rocheberie Schoolhouse Quilters is a patchwork and quilting group which meets in Dunchurch six times a year. Our meetings start at 9.45 and consist of a morning of shopping at sales tables or trader, consumption of cake and coffee and lots of chat! After show and tell and charity raffle, we have a speaker, and finish about 3pm. All this for £6! We welcome anyone interested in textile arts who would like to be inspired and make new friends.
email: lyndahill39@gmail.com
Project Linus
Project Linus is a world-wide charity which provides brand new, handmade quilts for children and young people in need of a hug. All the quilts we make become the property of Leicestershire children for them to keep for ever. We welcome donations of quilts, blocks, fabric and sewing supplies. A free quilt block pattern for every visitor!
email: lyndahill39@gmail.com
web: https://linusleics.blogspot.com/
HWU3A QUILTY PLEASURES
HWU3A QUILTY PLEASURES – LOLLI’S QUILT
12,000 hand stitched hexagons + 2 years = a beautiful quilt.
In 2022, our Quilty Pleasures group was gifted the centre panel and thousands of paper pieced hexagons, when Lolli received her cancer diagnosis.
This labour of love is now complete and we are raffling it in aid of Loros and Cransley hospices.
Please help us to make Lolli’s legacy of love long lasting.
email: dianermiles54@gmail.com
JEUDIS
JEUDIS is a group of eight mixed media artists. Each member approaches a new project differently & draws on many years of experience to fulfil the brief.
Our inspiration for Buildings lead us all on many different pathways, through towns, cities and countries, from hidden doorways to knockers to memories of cities long visited. To take a structure and draw out the essence of it, to portray it in many mediums.
emails: elainewinterton@msn.com
website: https://www.facebook.com/jeudis10
Lutterworth Stitchers
We are an independent creative textile group in Leicestershire, with places for up to seventy members. The work on display at the BTS will be from our annual Scintillating Stitches Exhibition, held at Wycliffe Methodist Church, Lutterworth, Tuesday 13th – Saturday 17th August 2024, daily 10am-4pm, Friday 10am-9pm, and illustrates the numerous avenues of stitch explored by our members.
Our monthly activities are many and varied, primarily for our members, but non members are welcome to join us.
Monthly Evening Meetings – when invited speakers provide inspiration from the textile world. Visitors fee £5.
Stitch Days – are held twice a month, working on your own project, a social day where ideas and stitch knowledge can be exchanged in a convivial atmosphere. Cost £5 per person.
Day Workshops – with an invited tutor are held 5 or 6 times during the year for members only, to further their skills.
Outings – on 2 or 3 occasions per year, we hire a coach and visit an Exhibition, Museum, Gallery or Stitching Show.
We look forward to meeting and chatting with you at the BTS!
email: barbaracox944@yahoo.co.uk
Drawn2Stitch
Drawn2Stitch was created 10 years ago after members completed the C & G Diploma of Creative Techniques.
We have exhibited at Belvoir Castle,Deene Park and for several years at the NEC Fashion and Embroidery show, also at the Uttoxeter Quilted Stitch Village and The Big Textile Show.
Our theme for this year is ‘Out of the Box ‘. Each individual has produced amazing ideas of interpretation and techniques based on this theme.
email: marilyn.hemsley@btinternet.com
Cosby Quilters
Cosby Quilters is made up of a diverse bunch of ladies who enjoy numerous crafts. It’s not just about patchwork and quilting but lots more besides. Including: printing, stamping, dyeing, embroidery, fabric manipulation, and mixed media – all of which we use to create objects of beauty.
Come along to our stand to see the work of our talented members and find out more about this friendly group, you could even bag yourself a masterpiece!
email: ginagcooke@gmail.com
website: https://cosbyquilters.blogspot.com/
Harborough Morsbags
Come and make a free Morsbag, the bag that money can’t buy! Made from pre-used or preloved fabric, all cut to size and ready to sew. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced sewer, you’ll leave with a beautiful handmade & unique tote/ shopping bag.
website: https://morsbags.com/
email: harboroughmorsbags@gmail.com
Cosby Yarn Bomb
Come and see some of the amazing Yarn Bombs recently featured at the Award Winning Cosby Yarn Bomb!
website: https://www.visitblaby.org.uk/events/cosby-yarn-bomb-2022/
Leicestershire & Rutland Federation of WI
Whether you are 18 or 80+ why not try the WI? Come and see what we have to offer in 111 venues across Leicestershire and Rutland. Talk to us about the WI and find your local WI in Leicestershire and Rutland. Find out about the activities and events we have on offer.
Have a go at a crocheted Worry worm or just collect one to take with you
website: https://leicestershire-and-rutland.thewi.org.uk/
email: wihouse@lrfwi.org
Leicester Machine Knitters
We are a small but welcoming group of both Machine and Hand knitters.
We have a number of different knitting machines that new members can try if they don’t have their own and help and advice are always willingly given.
email: adamscarole223@gmail.com
Art2Stitch
Art2Stitch enjoy working collaboratively, challenging and supporting each other, facilitating the development of our individual artistic practices.
Members create innovative and experimental pieces, in two and three dimensions, developed through the use of traditional techniques, printing, dyeing, CAD and practical experimentation
email: arttostitch@gmail.com
website: https://www.art2stitch.com/
Textiles in the Yurt
I run a variety of embroidery and tapestry weaving workshops in a traditional Mongolian yurt in my garden. I have a lifelong love of textiles and have a wonderful collection of different examples from my travels in India and other parts of the world. I have taught creative textiles in schools for many years and enjoy using traditional techniques as a starting point in my own work and in my teaching. There will be some lovely examples of textiles and projects completed in the yurt on display.
website: https://www.textilesintheyurt.com/
email: gillgreany@gmail.com
Wymeswold Threads
Wymeswold Threads is ‘Evolving’! We are a group of 16 enthusiastic Textile Artists who came together 8 years ago to share a passion for textile work.
We have regular focussed workshops led mainly by our own members who have plenty of skills and ideas to share. We cover a wide range of techniques, both 2D and 3D, using a variety of fabrics, fibres, materials, paints and dyes – all as a basis for creative thread work and stitchery by hand or machine.
The group has given each member the opportunity to extend their individual interests and expertise, and now we love to take on the challenge of exhibiting the results. This is our 3rd year at the Big Textile Show.
email: janetdonnell@hotmail.com
Stable House Textiles
Textile workshops are run by Liz Taylor who offers a range of interesting and creative workshops from The Stable House in Great Dalby, Leicestershire.
Liz has gained many years experience running her own textile businesses and through teaching Art, Design, Textiles and Fashion to students of all ages and abilities, including those with learning disabilities and dementia.
In recent years Liz’s own work has focussed on creating denim products from recycled denim, which will be exhibited at the show this year.
website: http://www.stablehousetextiles.com/
email: liz@stablehousetextiles.com
Leicestershire Quilters
Leicestershire Quilters is a group of people who love quilting and other textile arts and crafts. We have a monthly meeting where we host a speaker, and also hold regular sewing days. Recent speakers include Sarah Hibbert, Wendy Dolan and Pascale Michalski. We also make quilts and fund raise for charity. Our meetings are open to anyone and we look forward to meeting you at the Big Textile Exhibition. To find out more contact Jan on LeicestershireQuilters40@gmail.com or find us on Facebook and Instagram.
Pascale’s Moral Fibre
Pascale Michalski is 40 years old, and while she’s originally from Luxembourg, she has lived in London/United Kingdom for 20 years now. Since the start of her quilting journey five years ago, she has created many award-winning art quilts, exhibited across Europe and the Middle East, and contributed to many quilt festivals. By getting involved in events, she doesn’t just support her quilting community; she also supports the craft she loves so much. She has been published in books as well as several editions of Art Quilting Studio Magazine. To learn more, visit pascalemichalski.com and follow along on Facebook and Instagram (@pascales_moral_fibre), where she shares her finished work as well as techniques and works in progress.
Website: https://www.pascalemichalski.com/
Email: michalskipascale@gmail.com
Leicester Longwool Sheepbreeders Association
Display of woolly product demonstrating the versatility of the Leicester Longwool Fleece
The showteam will be demonstrating various crafting such as peg looming needle felting and spinning throughout the day
There will be some fleece, carded batts, coloured locks and small woolly items for sale.
website: http://www.llsba.co.uk/
email: ashtreeflock@gmail.com
Rachel Morley Feltmaker and Fine Artist
There are more than 60 breeds of sheep in Britain – more diversity than any other country in the world. And the wool from each breed is different! Rachel Morley embraces this incredible natural material to create a range of unique felt items by hand. For many pieces the natural colours of the wool are retained – no dying.
Inspired by the coastal landscape of South West Scotland and its wonderful colours and textures, Rachel’s range includes 3D sculptural items such as her British Breed Bowls, Cubby Bowls, Cubbyholes, Doorstops, Pebble Bowls, Pebble Pods and Word Bowls. There are also individual framed works for wall hanging.
Rachel studied Fine Art Printmaking at Loughborough College of Art & Design and has also studied Felt Making at Diploma level. Rachel enjoys sharing her enthusiasm for felt and runs a range of workshops for people keen to explore felt making.
email: rach67morley@gmail.com
website: https://www.rachelmorley.com/
Stitch Print Paint
Two imaginative individuals with a passion for a diverse range of arts from painting, leather and paper crafted books, and a variety of textile-based items, including purses, greeting cards, pictorial embroidery, and lots in between.
email: textiles@christineplummer.co.uk
website: https://www.stitchprintpaint.co.uk/
Tiddley Pea Creations
I’m a mixed media textiles artist and milliner with a passion for repurposed materials and found objects. When I’m not busy creating something weird and wonderful you’ll either find me on the beach combing for finds or scouring the charity shops for materials that spark my imagination. I’ve recently pivoted my practice to focus on millinery and finding new ways of using old materials in conjunction with traditional and contemporary techniques.
I’ll be exhibiting a selection of my clothing pieces made from repurposed materials including ties, tea towels, upholstery fabric and table cloths as well as a selection of my recent headpieces. My work is colourful, quirky and always fun. This will be my first time exhibiting a large collection of my textiles work and can’t wait to share a little slice of my imagination with you!
email: tiddleypeacreations@gmail.com