Summer workshops in south London 2016

Women of the Cloth have teamed up with some local community groups to teach feltmaking workshops during their summer festivals.

First up is Vauxhall City Farm on Saturday 4th June .

Vauxhall City Farm is the most centrally located farm in London. They specialise in educational, recreational and therapeutic services and activities ranging from school trips, workshops, gardening projects and birthday parties to Riding for the Disabled.

As part of their Spring Spectacular we have been invited to run a day of feltmaking workshops in the new Education Centre, and you can also enjoy spending time with the farm animals and having refreshments in the  Old Dairy Cafe.

We’ll be making felt flowers at the morning session, then phone cases using a resist technique in the afternoon.  Sign up for one or both at £12 per session.  Book your places direct with the Farm here.

Next we’ll be at Brixton Windmill on Sunday 26th June.

Brixton Windmill turns 200 years old in 2016 and there will a number of celebrations throughout the year.  Although there were probably mills in the area in the Middle Ages, the earliest evidence of a windmill in Lambeth dates from the 16th century. At least 12 sites have existed, though the maximum number of mills at any one time was at the beginning of the 19th century, when there were five working in Lambeth, including Brixton Windmill, which has been lovingly restored.

For the bicentenary celebrations it recently displayed beautiful new sailcloths, designed by local team Eley Kishimoto.

We Women of the Cloth will be running  drop in sessions making felt flowers  during the Brixton Windmill  Festival on 26th June, 2-4pm.

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Make a felted bird or bird pod at South London Botanical Institute

We’re very excited to be taking part in the Chelsea Fringe for the first time this year. This alternative garden festival, which grew up around the Chelsea Flower Show, runs from 16 May to 7 June 2015, with events and happenings all over London, not just Chelsea.

Carol and Kim from Women of the Cloth are going to be running a felting workshop at the South London Botanical Institute on Saturday 30 May. Participants will be able to make either a needle felted bird or a wet felted bird pod – all materials provided.

The birds are made by needle felting, where you work the fibres together with a barbed needle to make a sculpted shape.

The pods are made using the wet felting technique, where you lay fleece around a resist and felt it by rubbing and rolling with soap and water.

Age 8+. Cost £10 inc materials. Please book in advance by emailing info@slbi.org.uk

Felt Passion

We were lucky enough before Christmas to win a competition on Facebook for a book published by Textile-link, a Dutch publisher that specialises in creating books about textiles from information and photos that people upload to their site.

The book we chose, Felt Passion, contains inspiring photos of felt created by 95 German artists living (a previous book, Felting for me is…, featured Dutch and Belgian felt artists). Other books focus on general textile arts.

Felt Passion contains fantastic examples of felt that really pushes the boundaries, from needle-felted figures to nuno, from sculptures to stitched felt. Kim has done workshops with three of the featured artists – Maria Friese, Ariane Mariane and Andrea Noeske-Porade – and can testify to their expertise and enthusiasm to share.

If you fancy being featured in the next book, called Worldwide Colours of Felt, due to be published in 2015, you need to register with the site and upload photos of your work. There is space for 200-300 artists in the book. Participation is free, and if your work is selected for the book you can order copies at a discount. More information on the Textile-link website.

Wishing you all a very happy and creative 2015!