October | 2014 | Nicola Brown Fine Art Textiles

That time of year has returned at last, next weekend sees the return of the Knitting & Stitching Show in the RDS, Dublin, from October 30th – November 2nd. More than 25,000 visitors are expected to attend the show, which will feature a unique combination of inspirational galleries, workshops and exhibitors selling everything from stunning fabrics, wools and threads, through to sewing machines, patterns and books.

Sea Slug II (photographed by Rob Lamb)

Some of you may remember my Seaslug on exhibition several years ago at the event, others may have participated in the felting taster session I facilitated with Clodagh McDonald via Feltmakers Ireland, you can actually get a link to Holly’s felt brooch tutorial which we were teaching on that occasion by clicking here!

Learning Curve at the Knitting and Stitching Show 2011

Thanks to the organisers I’m delighted to offer blog readers the opportunity to claim three pairs of tickets to the Dublin show, they need to be used on either Thursday (if you can pick them up from me), Friday or Sunday and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to post them out to you in time, I think that Friday or Sunday would be the best days time wise! Sooooooo, if you live in Ireland (or will be travelling to Dublin for the show!) and would like to enter the draw for a pair of tickets please just comment on this post and let me know what you are most looking forward to checking out at the Knit and Stitch, the exhibitions, the vendors, the taster sessions, the PicKnit, the artists in action??? You get the idea so please leave your comments now and email me your postal address, I’ll make the draw first thing on Wednesday morning (hence the email address, no email = no tickets) and post the tickets out asap. Here’s a taster from the organisers of what will be happening at this years event…………..

A new attraction will be The PicKnit, brought to Dublin by the UK Hand Knitting Association. Under the theme of ‘Knit One, Hook One and Pass it On’, visitors to The Picknit can learn, create and share their knitting and crochet skills with other visitors. There will be free one- to-one knitting and crochet tuition for beginners, and a chance for the more adventurous to experiment with some exciting new designs.

Helen Marriott, The Knitting & Stitching Show, said: “For decades, knitting has been a sociable pastime with knitters happily chatting over coffee and yarn. PicKnits takes that idea to the next level, combining a love of food with a love of knitting, stitching and craft. Knitting PicKnits don’t have to be big formal occasions though – all you need are needles, some snacks, a few friends and some space. Importantly, Knitting PicKnits, like the one coming up in the RDS, help keep the traditional skills of knitting and stitching alive.”

Thanks to celebrity knitters such as Cara Delevingne, Ryan Gosling, Kate Moss and Lily Allen, organisers have noticed a huge increase in interest in knitting and sewing. “Knitting and sewing have both been around for centuries, but celebrity knitters and sewers are helping to bring the hobby and craft to a whole new audience.” added Helen Marriott.

Visitors to the show, which is Ireland’s largest textile and craft event, can also look forward to:

 Artists at work in the ‘Artists in Action Studio’
 Learning a new skill at one of the 100s of ‘Learning Curve’ workshops
 Professionally-curated galleries including one featuring the 1913 Lockout Tapestry, designed by Cathy Henderson and artist Robert Ballagh
 An exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War One
 An inaugural display by the students from the CIT Crawford College of Art and Design.
 An exhibition of new textile artwork exploring relationships between commemoration and memory by Nigel Cheney of NCAD
 A Design & Crafts Council of Ireland exhibition, called ‘Entwined Memories’
 ‘Explorations’ by the Irish Patchwork Society.
 116 hours of workshops ranging from Beginners’ Crochet to Embellishing Bed Linen to Sewing a Vintage Clutch Bag.
 A student showcase from various colleges and academies, such as the NCAD, The Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology and the National Tailoring Academy at Louis Copeland.

Unveiling Irish Designers and Tailors of the Future – Student Designer Showcase announced for the Knitting and Stitching Show (#knitnstitch), October 30th – November 2nd at the RDS

Up-and-coming Irish textile designers and tailors will be unveiling their talent at the Knitting and Stitching Show in the RDS, Dublin, at the end of the month.
The talented designers will be showcasing spectacular creations – including a steel-boned bodice red dress, a 60 metre-long braiding coil and a zipped patchwork armchair – at the show which takes place from October 30th – November 2nd.
This year’s show is expected to attract a record number of knitting and hand craft enthusiasts, with 25,000 expected to pass through the doors of the RDS over the four days of the show.
The student creations will be displayed at various curated galleries during the show. “A Room of One’s Own” is the theme of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin gallery, featuring one-of-a-kind artefacts like chairs, wall hangings and screens for a contemporary interior space.
Sixteen students from CIT Crawford College of Art and Design in Cork will be making their show debut with works such as “Big Bad Braid”, involving 60 metres of braiding coil and “A Journey Through Emotion”, highlighting the traditional Korean technique of Bojagi.
And students from the National Tailoring Academy at Louis Copeland will be demonstrating their bespoke tailoring skills with garments such as a 1930s-style frock coat, a steel-boned red bodice dress, and a tailcoat with a hidden tail pocket.
Meanwhile, the Graduate Showcase gallery, which will challenge notions of stitching and surface embroidery, is set to feature the work of students from the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology and the NCAD.
Student Mary Brady, from the National Tailoring Academy at Louis Copeland, created a hand-sewn fairytale ballgown with a steel bone corset, inspired by dresses worn at Masquerade Balls in Vienna.
“The dress took me three weeks to finish. I started with the steel bone corset and then I draped raw silk over it and finished by sewing the skirt by hand. This was an amazing experience and really helped me develop and hone my hand tailoring and corsetry skills,” said Mary from Co. Meath.
“We have invited some of Ireland’s most promising young textile designers and tailors to showcase their skills and creations at this year’s Knitting and Stitching Show, which is expected to attract 25,000 visitors,” said Helen Marriott, the show’s organiser. “Through the Student Designer Showcase, we want to put Ireland’s young designer and tailors at the very heart of the show and into the national spotlight.”

Thanks a thousand times to all the fabulous friends who came to Clasheen for FeltUnited day bringing delicious food, drinks, a watering can and a positive attitude, you all helped make the afternoon so fun and colourful! I'm not going to mention anyone by name for fear I'll leave somebody out, you all know who you are however so below are some pictures for everyone to enjoy. Thanks Orla for forwarding me on some of these, if anyone else has good photos I'd love to receive them via email to add to the collection! Tomorrow afternoon I hope to add some text to the back of the wall hanging and finish felting it, as soon as I do I'll post the final pics and set up a rota so everyone who participated will have a chance to display the piece at their own home!!!