2024:
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
2022:
International Feltmakers Association
The International Feltmakers Association was formed to foster worldwide interest in felt, to promote members’ work, and keep members in contact with one another for exchange of knowledge and ideas. We are a not-for-profit organisation established to promote felt in all its forms. We are all volunteers whose job it is to continue the work of our founder, the late Mary Burkett, OBE. We welcome everyone with an interest in feltmaking from the beginner to the professional.
website: https://www.feltmakers.com/
email: exhibitions@feltmakers.com
Rachel Carter Sculpture
Did you know less than 5% of statues in the UK represent women! We want to change that in Nottingham, with not one but two statues of women.
Help us challenge the 5 percent by donating money to fund a bronze sculpture in the heart of Nottingham’s Broad Marsh depicting the story of women working in Midlands textile mills and the enslaved working in cotton fields in America and the Caribbean.
Two women intertwined; one representing the women who worked in the textile mills in the Midlands and the other women who were enslaved and working in the cotton fields of America and the Caribbean.
In 2016 Caroline Criado-Perez researched how many statues were of women out of the 826 across the UK and commented “That leaves us with 25 statues of historical, non-royal women (one of whom is a ghost and only there because she’s looking for the spirit of her murdered husband). Meanwhile, there are 43 statues of men called John.”
Let’s challenge the 5 percent and put not one but two statues of women in the heart of Nottingham
website: https://www.rachelcarter.co.uk/
email: info@rachelcarter.co.uk
Leicestershire County Council Museums
Be inspired by a selection of some of the beautiful, quirky and interesting objects from Leicestershire’s Museum Collections.
email: museums@leics.gov.uk
website: https://leicestershirecollections.org.uk/
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
The Leicestershire and Rutland Federation was formed in 1918. We currently have 116 WIs through the two counties. These range from small village WIs with a few members to larger WIs with over 100 members – so whatever your age or interests, there is sure to be a WI not too far away from you waiting to welcome you.
WIs offer fun and friendship and a chance to learn new skills. There is usually a speaker at the monthly meetings, and time to socialise with fellow members. Other activities, such as walks, outings or craft groups feature on the WI calendar depending on the interests of the members. If you are new to an area, it is a wonderful way to make friends.
website: https://leicestershire-and-rutland.thewi.org.uk/
email: wihouse@lrfwi.org
Leicestershire Bobbin Lace Guild
“We are a group of Lace Makers, both experienced and novices who meet on the second Monday of the month (except January, July and August) from
7.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. at Blaby Social Centre, Leicester Road, Blaby, Leics, LE8 4GQ. We have speakers and activity evenings.
Also an Annual Lace Day usually in March with suppliers attending at Countesthorpe Village Hall.
Please come along and join us, you will be made very welcome”.
For more information contact Sheila Hewitt (secretary) on 01455 554375.
email: sheila.ahewitt@btopenworld.com
website: www.facebook.com/leicestershirebobbinlaceguild
Leicester Machine Knitters
If you are a machine knitter, or interested in learning more about knitting machines, why not drop by and say hello. We always love to meet new knitters
email: susanmarlow47@btinternet.com
website: http://www.leicestershiremk.org.uk/
Art2Stitch
Art2Stitch textile artists enjoy collaborative working, supporting and encouraging each other to develop their individual practice.
Innovative and experimental pieces, developed and transformed traditional techniques and practical experimentation are important to the Group.
Art2Stitch meet monthly on Mondays and welcome new members who enjoy trying new things and being part of a lively group.
The Group try to exhibit regularly, our last being at Milton Keynes Museum Gallery for a year.
email: sheila.alinkbrunsdon@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
Gateway College
Gateway College is launching a brand new T Level in Fashion and Textiles in September 2023! This will be the first course of its kind in brand new state of the art studios and facilities! Start your fashion textiles career with us!! You can also study fashion with us at level 2, 3 and 4!
website: https://gateway.ac.uk/
email: studentservices@gateway.ac.uk
Wymeswold Threads
‘Wymeswold Threads’ is a group of enthusiastic textile artists who came together 6 years ago to share a passion for textile work.
We have regular focussed workshops – which we maintained all the way through Lockdown in gardens or over zoom – led 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 in Textile Art and now we feel ready to take on the challenge of exhibiting the results. Our title ‘Starting Out’ expresses our first year venturing into the exhibition world!
email: janetdonnell@hotmail.com
Textile and Art Together
We are working in tandem, taking a theme and developing it within our own medium. Carol as a Contemporary Lace maker, combining fibres and coloured copper wire to produce 3D forms. Ida as a Botanical Mixed Media artist combining multiple media. There are no Boundaries between the two disciplines with ideas overlapping and blending.
email: richard_lee40@hotmail.com
Stable House Textiles
Textile workshops are run by Liz Taylor from The Stable House in Great Dalby, Leicestershire.
Liz has gained many years experience running her own textiles business and through teaching Art, Design, Textiles and Fashion to students of all ages and abilities, including those with learning disabilities and dementia.
Liz offers a range of interesting and creative workshops and is also really excited to be embarking on additional collaborative workshops this year at Grange Farm Alpacas close by. From there we will be offering day & half-day textile workshops using beautiful Alpaca fleece produced by the Grange Farm Alpaca and also Glamping Weekend Retreats!
website: http://www.stablehousetextiles.com/
email: liz@stablehousetextiles.com
Chris Yates Textiles
I have always had a love of textiles, be it dressmaking, working within the clothing industry or more latterly, embroidery, mixed media and book-making . I love the tactile nature of fabric and threads and confess to a bit of an obsession with variegated threads in particular.
Over recent years I have been able to indulge my love of experimentation with different materials, incorporating all sorts of mixed media into my work. Whilst I am a stickler for precision when learning a technique, particularly new stitches, and new book bindings I enjoy nothing more, having mastered them, than taking them off in a whole new direction to see what else can be achieved.
Having been known as The Teabag Lady for the last few years I have decided this year to show my now extensive collection of hand-made books. Since 2018 I have been experimenting with different types of bindings, both for fabric books and for mixed media projects, and they each have a theme, be it subject matter or technique. I’m sure there will be something for everyone.
website: https://chrisyatestextileart.weebly.com/
email: cy8s@outlook.com
Crafty Stitchers Leicestershire
Crafty Stitchers Leicestershire is an Independent group (Affiliated to Embroiderers guild) who share an interest in textiles which includes hand and machine embroidery, quilting and other textile related activities.
We share our knowledge together, through invited speakers and workshops and group led practical sessions.
We meet on the second Saturday of the month at Braunstone West Social Centre, St Mary’s Avenue, off Braunstone Lane, Leicester LE3 3FT 2.00pm for 2.15 start with time to socialise.
Everyone is welcome, we have a varied mix of members of all abilities and interests.
If you would like to find out more please contact Susan Flint Chair 0116 4299458 or Briony Willig Secretary 0116 2872531.
We also have Sew and Chat on alternate Friday’s at Braunstone Civic Centre LE3 3PP
email: susanflint61@talktalk.net
Pascale’s Moral Fibre
Pascale Michalski is 38 years old, and while she’s originally from Luxembourg, she has lived in London/United Kingdom for 19 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. Her quilt Meet Me Today has been awarded Excellence in Machine Quilting at the Festival of Quilts 2021 in Birmingham, UK. By getting involved in events, she doesn’t just support her quilting community; she also supports the craft she loves so much. To learn more, 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
Lutterworth Piecemakers
Lutterworth Piecemakers is a patchwork and quilting group which meets in Walcote Memorial Hall, Franks Road, Walcote, Leicestershire on the third Wednesday of every month except December. Our meetings are a mixture of hands-on sessions, projects, demonstrations and speakers. We are active in supporting local and national charities.
Website: https://lutterworthpiecemakers.blogspot.com/
Email: jacquiedurber@gmail.com
Traverse
Traverse is a group of textile artists, working with varied styles, mediums and techniques; our name comes from the way we like to approach a theme – moving or looking sideways, seeking different perspectives. Within mixed media, we each have our favourites, including working with paper, metal, hand-dyed fabric, felt, 3D and fashion, using heat, print, paint, and stitch. An important part of our ethos is to celebrate our diversity, share our various strengths and to grow together.
Our 2020 theme, ‘Senses’, reflects our individual approaches to the sensory world in felt, metal, paint, print and stitch. It includes exploring sensory loss, optical illusion and how our sensory experiences give a sense of place and time.
We hope to be demonstrating some of the ways we work during the show – in particular, our use of an embellisher.
Email: traversetextileart@gmail.com
Website: http://www.traversetextileart.uk
The Beadworkers Guild
The Beadworkers Guild encourage members to explore their creativity. We offer opportunities for members to experiment through our workshops, quarterly journal, education modules and website
website: https://beadworkersguild.com/
email: shows@beadworkersguild.co.uk
Visualise
‘Visualise’ Art Textile group has a regular exhibition programme and aims to celebrate our diverse applications of the textile media. We work with a mentor who engages each member in creative dialogues.
Please see the website for the exhibition programme.
email: sandal.jenkins@btinternet.com
website: https://www.visualise.online/
Jessica Grady
I am a mixed embroidery artist and textile designer who works from her home in West Yorkshire. I specialise in transforming waste and recycled materials into embellishments and sequins that can be stitched onto textiles. My work involves multiple processes including dye, paint, fusing and material manipulation. I am always on the look out for new and exciting materials to use and ways to repurpose waste into treasure. I use anything and everything in my work including; recycled wet suits, medical tubing, stripped electric cables and fire engine vinyl offcuts to name a few!
I create colourful, 3D sculptures and wall art that encourages curiosity, playful tactility and combining traditional embroidery skills with modern materials and techniques. My personal work is embedded in the idea of sustainability and making use of everyday materials that are easily accessible. I regularly exhibit and showcase my work in galleries and shows across the UK, Europe and further afield and was invited to the 2020 Tokyo Quilt Festival as an ambassador for Art Textiles Made in Britain. In 2018 I was awarded the Embroiderer’s Guild Under 30’s Scholar.
As well as exhibiting my own work I also work as a freelance lecturer and workshop tutor and travel across the UK and beyond to share my skills and ideas with others. I work with a variety of charities, festivals, educational establishments and private organisations showing the flexibility and endless creative opportunities and ideas that I believe textile art brings.
Email: jgradyembroidery@gmail.com
Website: https://www.jessicagrady.co.uk/
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