Beautiful Bridport and Walton-on-Thames

Bridport Hat Festival

Every September sees the return one of my favourite annual events, the Bridport Hat Festival.

I was manning a stand in the Arts Centre with the lovely Region 2 ladies from International Feltmakers Association (IFA), there was much giggling and laughter as festival goers tried on our various hats.

As always, everyone was in high spirits and enjoying the relaxed festival atmosphere, with live music and many people people sporting their home-made, incredibly creative headwear for the various competitions. It really is the most wonderful event, and it is free! 🙂

We were incredibly busy serving customers this year so not much time to take photos but here are just a few of my highlights from the festival:

This was a first for me, Mr&Mrs, each wearing one of my creations! 🙂

If you would like to learn how to make your own felted hats, registration for the online Concertina Hat Class will be opening on Thursday (October 10th) with the felting fun starting on October 24th and continuing until the end of November. If you would like to book a place on this course and learn how to make the super-cute snail hat please complete the contact form here.

More details on the concertina hat course content can be found here and photos of the inspirational hats made by my students on previous courses can be found here.

If you are interested in more general information on felt-making, the IFA and classes offered by IFA members please click here.

SDC at Walton-on-Thames

Today I made the 30 minute drive to see the Society of Designer Craftsmen’s exhibition at the Riverhouse Barn Arts Centre in Walton-on-Thames (KT12 2PF). Expecting to see an eclectic mix of different media (ceramics, jewellery, glass etc) I was very pleasantly surprised to find 80% of the works on display were textiles.

Here are a few of my favourite pieces from the exhibition, it is only open until October 13th so do be quick if you would like to see these pieces in person (they really are worth a visit).

I was blown away by Samantha Harvey’s critters, each one had a unique personality, I felt like they were inviting me to engage them in conversation or to stroke them but there were other people in the room so I bit my tongue and put my hands in my pockets. Another time perhaps 🙂